Japan’s Emperor Gives Game Victor a Massage
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<i> Associated Press</i>
TOKYO — Emperor Akihito gave a shoulder massage to 81-year-old Toshiko Arai on Friday after losing an impromptu game of rock-paper-scissors at a nursing home.
After Arai’s scissors beat his paper, Akihito rubbed her shoulders briefly while others in the room clapped and smiled.
The massage is one of several traditionally agreed-upon penalties in the game known in Japan as jan-ken-pon. The emperor started the game on a lark while he and Empress Michiko were visiting a nursing home in Tokyo.
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