As new era approaches, Japanese look back over Heisei

Japanese people across the country on Tuesday recalled the past three decades of Emperor Akihito's reign and expressed hopes for the new era starting the next day.Crowds visited the Imperial Palace from the morning as rain fell on Tokyo and across many parts of Japan."I wanted to see the Imperial Palace on the last day of Heisei," said Kiwako Toma, 44, who came from Okinawa, Japan's southernmost island prefecture, with her 9-year-old son.Okinawa was one of the bloodiest battlefields of World War II, a war Japan fought in the name of Emperor Akihito's father, Emperor Hirohito."I came here wi…READ FULL ARTICLE