新年参賀の見送り決定　新型コロナ感染防止で―宮内庁

　毎年１月２日に皇居で開かれる新年一般参賀について、新型コロナウイルス感染拡大を防止するため、来年は実施しないことが正式に決まった。宮内庁が２７日発表した。新年参賀が開かれないのは、昭和天皇の逝去を受けて見送られた１９９０年以来。
　皇居での一般参賀は例年、１月２日と天皇誕生日に行われており、平成以降の新年参賀では少ない年でも５万人が皇居を訪れた。大勢が集まって密集状況が避けられないため、令和最初の天皇誕生日だった今年２月の参賀は直前に見送りが決まった。（2020/11/27-00:22）

Japan's Imperial Household Agency said Friday it has decided to cancel the 2021 New Year greetings by the Imperial Family to visitors at the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo due to the spread of the new coronavirus.
   It is the first time for the family's New Year greetings to be canceled since 1990 following the death of Emperor Hirohito, posthumously called Emperor Showa, in 1989.
   Every year on Jan. 2, members of the Imperial Family appear on the balcony of the palace multiple times to offer New Year greetings to large crowds of visitors.
   Since the start of the Heisei era in 1989, at least 50,000 people visited the palace each year to receive New Year greetings from the Imperial Family. The agency decided to cancel the event next year as it judged that congestion among visitors cannot be avoided.
   The Imperial Family also greets the general public at the palace on the Emperor's birthday. Visits to the palace to celebrate Emperor Naruhito's birthday in February this year were canceled at the last minute due to concerns over crowding amid the virus outbreak.