TOKYO - JAPANESE Emperor Akihito will cancel his customary annual news conference for his birthday next week due to recent health problems, the palace said on Tuesday.

'The emperor will not hold a news conference this year because there is a pressing need to reduce his fatigue and stress following advice of the palace doctors,' said a spokesman for the Imperial Household Agency.

The emperor, who will turn 75 on December 23, is suffering from bleeding in the stomach due to inflammation that may have been caused by stress, the palace said last week.

'Instead, the emperor is expected to issue a statement expressing his feelings' on his birthday, the spokesman said.

The emperor's doctors have proposed a review of his schedule through early next year, the spokesman added.

The emperor, who enjoys wide respect among Japanese, rarely speaks in public other than at his annual news conference.

It would be the third time the emperor has issued a statement instead of meeting reporters.

He cancelled his birthday news conference in 1999 as he had already given one the month before to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his reign. In 2004, he called it off to mourn the death of a member of the imperial family.

Emperor Akihito had surgery for prostate cancer in January 2003 and started hormone treatment for the disease the following year.

Japan's post-World War II constitution forbids the emperor from playing any role in politics. Akihito's father Hirohito was revered as a demigod until 1945. -- AFP