Japanese royal family made a remarkable debut on Instagram on Monday.
The world's oldest monarchy made a social media debut by posting 19 formally staged photos and videos of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako.
Unexpected Instagram debut of the Japanese royal family intends to highlight their public engagements, as well as to share insights of festivals and occasions of recent year.
Royal's Instagram account gained over 200K followers when it was opened to public following after being set to private for seven days.
According to a spokesperson for Imperial Household Agency, the royal family wanted the public to have a better understanding of their official duties and wanted to restore interest in the Japanese government by contacting a more youthful crowd through social media.
Japanese monarchy has mythological origins stretching back more than two millennia, and any public criticism of the emperor remains taboo in the country.
The royal family's first official account does not follow any other users and has so far not shared any Instagram stories.
Reacting to the royal family's Instagram debut, one X user wrote, “The IHA is on Instagram! I thought it was an April Fools’ prank!”
While another noted, “When I heard the IHA created an Instagram account, I quickly checked it out. But of course the emperor wouldn’t post ‘today’s lunch (heart emoji)’ or anything like that.”
Some handlers joked that it's a great move for the royals to choose the more "civilized" Instagram over X, formerly Twitter.
