TOKYO -- Emperor Akihito prepared to be crowned Japan's 125th emperor Monday as suspected leftist radicals opposed to the enthronement set a series of fires and launched several small missles at U.S. and Japanese military bases.
Fires broke out at five Shinto shrines and several trains stations in the Tokyo area and missles were fired at four Japanese Self Defense Force bases and one U.S. Navy base hours before Akihito was to be crowned the 125th emperor of Japan in a controversial, religous-based ceremony.
No one was injured in any of the attacks which police suspect were carried out by urban guerrillas who have vowed to disrupt the enthronement celebration, said a spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.
Palace officials said the attacks did not slow preparations for the elaborate enthronement ceremony. Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko left their residence at the Akasaka Palace as scheduled and began dressing in ornate court robes for the ceremony to be held inside the heavily-guarded Imperial Palace, the spokesman said.
Police in Kobe, 300 miles west of Tokyo, continued to search for two men who they suspect tossed two bombs into the yard of the U.S. Consul General's official residence Sunday night. The bombs broke a window but caused no other damage and no injuries.
Police, expecting violence from radicals, dispatched an army of 37, 000 officers around Tokyo to prevent attacks and protect the 158 foreign dignitaries, including U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle, who were in Tokyo to attend the enthronement.
The violence focused on religious and military facilities and police said they recognized the work of leftist guerrillas at several of the locations.
Fires broke out in five Shinto shrines, including one which was completely engulfed in flames, police said.
Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan and has been a target of leftists guerrillas opposed to its view of the emperor as a man-god and its use during World War II as a tool of militarists.
Small homemade missles were fired at the U.S. Air base at Atsugi, in a western suburb of Tokyo, and at four Self Defense Force bases in the greater Tokyo area, police said.
One missle was fired at the U.S. Air base from an iron pipe about 2 inches in diameter dug into the ground outside the base fense, police said. The missle landed harmlessly in some bushes on the base grounds, police said.
Military bases are a target of the leftists who are opposed to the resurgence of prewar Japanese militarism.
Small fires also broke out at at least three train stations in the Tokyo area, forcing the temporary shutdown of train service on some lines.
Leftists opposed the privatization of Japanese railways in 1986 which left a large number of union employees without jobs.
Radicals protesting the New Tokyo International Airport at Narita tossed gas bombs at police but caused no injuries, police said.
U.S. Consul General Gregory Johnson, his wife and two children, were in the residence in Kobe at about 6:10 p.m. Sunday when two bombs exploded in their yard, but they were not injured, U.S. officials said.
The only damage was a broken window, the officials said.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Tokyo said he knew of no changes in Quayle's schedule or security arrangements as a result of the attacks on the two U.S. facilities.
Akihito, the 56-year-old son of Japan's wartime leader Hirohito, will formally accept his accession to the 2,600-year-old Chrysanthemum Throne in a 30-minute ceremony.
Akihito will don a $100,000 imperial robe and his wife will be covered in a five-layer court kimono worth $61,000 as Akihito proclaims himself the emperor and Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu congratulates him.
Kaifu will lead the 2,500 guests in three 'banzai,' or long live the emperor, cheers at the conclusion of the ceremony.
The imperial couple will then ride in an open car over a 2.9-mile motorcade route which will be lined with an estimated 700,000 people straining for a glimpse of the royal couple.
About 12,000 police will provide almost shoulder-to-shoulder security along the route.
