TOKYO (AP) — Japan's 78-year-old emperor has left hospital after heart surgery.
The Imperial Household Agency says Emperor Akihito returned home to his palace on Sunday following successful heart bypass surgery on Feb. 18.
Nationally televised news showed him walking on his own, bowing to doctors, getting in a car with his wife Michiko and then waving from the window.
Akihito has been eager to take part in the anniversary events of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, where he has visited often with Michiko.
Akihito has developed various health problems in recent years, including pneumonia late last year and prostate cancer in 2003.
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