Japan Emperor Under Cancer Surgery

Emperor Akihito was undergoing surgery for prostate cancer Saturday, the Imperial Household Agency said, in an operation from which he was expected to fully recover.

Doctors who diagnosed the 69-year old emperor last month said they believe the cancer hasn't spread, raising his chances for returning to good health.

Akihito entered the operating room at the University of Tokyo hospital a little before 8 a.m. said an agency spokesman on condition of anonymity. Experts say his type of surgery usually lasts between 5 and 6 hours.

The openness accompanying Akihito's hospitalization breaks with tradition at the imperial household, which has long kept a veil over the royal family's illnesses and medical treatment.

When Akihito's father, the late Emperor Hirohito, was suffering from intestinal cancer in 1989, the Imperial Household Agency told the public he had an ulcer, waiting until after his death to disclose that he had cancer.

Until recently, Japanese doctors would often not tell their patients when they had cancer because they thought it would destroy their will to live.

Akihito's surgery marks the first time a Japanese emperor has received major medical treatment outside the Imperial Palace, which has a hospital within its moat-ringed grounds.

The emperor, who was hospitalized Thursday, is expected to remain hospitalized for about one month to recuperate from the operation.

Crown Prince Naruhito has assumed his father's constitutional duties until the monarch is well enough to resume them.

Under Japan's postwar constitution, the royal family has no official political powers and its role is largely symbolic. They frequently travel abroad, however, to bolster international relations.

The last time the emperor was hospitalized was in June 1995, when he had surgery to remove a benign polyp in his large intestine.