Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko continued their visit to Vietnam over the weekend in the former Vietnamese imperial city of Hue. As they toured the former imperial citadel on Saturday, Empress wore a new saucer hat. In pale grey, the large scaled saucer features a slightly raised rim and is trimmed in a double bow in the same fabric as Michiko’s suit and striped tunic. The striped bow ties beautifully with the tunic, which extends beyond Michiko’s black jacket in a style we don’t often see on her but one that looks so sharp.
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Previously Worn: this hat is new
Also on Saturday, the emperor and empress visited the gardens and memorial house of Vietnam’s nationalist Phan Boi Chau (1867-1940) who campaigned for a strong relationship with Japan to gain Vietnam’s independence. For this visit, Empress Michiko wore a gently sloped white saucer hat with a white transparent lattice underbrim and a curling ribbon in the slate blue/grey accent as is on her suit. The curling ribbon is backed in a high sheen silk which gives the piece a bit of sparkle in the sunlight.
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Previously Worn: this hat is new
Yesterday, the royal couple departed Vietnam for Thailand. Empress Michiko wore a white rimmed saucer trimmed with a folded bow in the same grey silk as her suit and a sprinkling of white silk blossoms. The light, delicate feel of the hat compliments her graphic suit really well.
Previously Worn: this hat is new
Royal Hats 
I must say, I NEVER tire of seeing each hat the Empress is wearing. Every hat is an exquisite piece of art scaled to, and perfectly and beautifully worn by, the Empress. I think the same of her taste in fashion design.
The first hat is my favorite of these three, since I’ve been longing for the return of one of the larger saucers, and matching the bow to the Empress’ outfit is so exquisitely done.
The other two are nicely done as well, but don’t stand out quite as much as they are too similar to the others she’s worn recently. I do wish we could get a closer look at the last hat worn for their departure.
Finally, it’s fun to see the Emperor out in a lighter-colored suit for the first outing, and the sage green tie is an excellent choice.
While the Imperial couple is pretty predictable when it comes to what they wear, the tailoring of their outfits is always on point!
The hat with the green leaves in the last post was my favorite of the six. However, the second suit in this post is gorgeous.
I couldn’t possibly choose among them! Each is perfect with its matching ensemble.
I agree Virginia
Looks as though the Empress’s giant toast rack contraption inserted with row upon row of hundreds of similar saucer hats is growing I particularly like the first hat shown above, the pale gray bow tie hat, because of its bigger saucer size, but the other two are equally spectacular — and typical. It must be difficult to keep creating new hats with such restricted color palettes and hat shapes.
The Empress is exquisitely dressed in each of these photos, very sharp tailoring as you say with matching millinery. Although I would like to see the Japanese Royals take a leap outside their norm with their hats these are perfection and suit the Empress.