In a departure from tradition, presents to mark Japanese Emperor Akihito's birthday have become tobacco-free.
Staff and palace guards found that their traditional gift bags, distributed to mark the emperor's birthday yesterday, did not contain cigarettes for the first time in decades, a spokesman for the Imperial Household Agency said.
In place of the cigarettes, which bear the emperor's chrysanthemum emblem, the gift bags for about 2,500 palace personnel contained traditional sweets, the Imperial Household Agency spokesman said.
"We have more non-smokers on our staff and the change from cigarettes to traditional sweets is also aimed at making the gifts more appropriate for families," the spokesman said.
The birthday gift bags this year also contained a small bottle of Japanese rice wine along with the sweets.
Cigarettes have been a part of the gift bags since at least the early 1960s.
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