Emperor, empress attend annual New Year's lecture

TOKYO, Japan - This pool photo shows an annual New Year's lecture being held at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Jan. 10, with Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko and other imperial family members in attendance. Hiroshi Shiono, professor emeritus of law at the University of Tokyo, Junjiro Kanamori, director of the International Institute for Advanced Studies and an expert on material science, and Koichiro Tsunewaki, president of Fukui Prefectural University and an expert on genetics, gave lectures at the event called ''Koshohajime-no-gi.''