Japan’s Emperor Akihito delivers a speech to well-wishers from a balcony of the Imperial Palace as Empress Michiko listens during New Year’s public appearance in Tokyo, Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
THE HISTORIC five-day state visit of Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko starts today (Tuesday) and comes at a time when the Philippines and Japan are marking the 60th anniversary of the normalization of their diplomatic relations.
President Aquino will welcome Akihito and Michiko upon their arrival at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
The imperial couple are flying in on Japan’s Air Force One, a Boeing 747-400 aircraft.
It will be a busy trip for the royal couple—who have been married for 57 years and who have three children—as they will attend events in Manila and Laguna province.
On Wednesday, President Aquino will welcome the royal couple to Malacañang.
They will also attend wreath-laying rites at the Rizal monument and Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Tomorrow night, the President will hold a state banquet for the emperor and the empress.
Thursday will be the heaviest day for the royal couple when they will meet with former Japanese students and trainees at the San Diego Garden in Intramuros and Japanese residents at Sofitel Hotel.
Japanese memorial
On Thursday afternoon, the couple will motor to the main office of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to visit its Language Training Center in Taguig City.
On Friday, the couple will head to Caliraya, Laguna, for wreath-laying rites at the Japanese memorial garden there.
They will then head to Los Baños, also in Laguna, for a tour of the International Rice Research Institute.
The royal couple will end their visit on Saturday morning when they will fly back home to Tokyo.
1962 visit
President Aquino visited Japan last year and reiterated his invitation for the two royals to visit the country.
Manila and Tokyo normalized their diplomatic relations in 1956.
The emperor actually visited the country in 1962 when he was still crown prince. The visit was in return for a state visit to Japan by then President Carlos Garcia.
Japan is the biggest source of official development assistance for the country.
The couple’s official visit marks the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Japan. It is also the first ever visit to the country of Japan’s reigning emperor and empress.
Sense of remorse
Akihito and Michiko, whose three-decade reign is called “Heisei (Achieving Peace),” were still crown prince and princess when they last visited the Philippines in 1962.
The imperial couple is expected to visit World War II memorial sites, particularly Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig and the monument to Japanese soldiers killed in the war in Caliraya, Laguna.
At least 500,000 Japanese nationals died in the Philippines during World War II.
Described as a pacifist, Akihito had said then about World War II: “This is something the Japanese must long remember with a profound sense of remorse.” With reports from Jeannette I. Andrade and Nikko Dizon