Why Is the Michiko called 上皇后 and not 皇太后? I feel the answer to this might be super simple, like the fact that her husband is still alive and holds the title of . But I just want clarification on this. Should Akihito pass away, then would Michiko's title change to or would her title stay as ? I understand that = dowager empress, and that the English translation of "dowager" means that the title would go to an empress whose husband has passed away, but is this really the case in terms of Japanese imperial titles or is there some other formalities that the English translations don't capture? Are these correct? * = retired emperor * = retired empress * = dowager empress

Traditionally a is (roughly) either a mother of emperor or a wife of a former emperor. So the current could be called a , but is not due to the law.

Wikipedia::

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So apparently was coined quite recently.

The article contains how meant differently in different times. Note that until the end of , there had been no () = retired emperor in the first place so that the word was not exactly common outside contexts of premodern history.