Japan's Imperial Family to Visit Okinawa Pref. in June; Princess Aiko to Join Emperor, Empress in Her 1st Visit to the Prefecture
The Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
The Emperor, the Empress and their daughter Princess Aiko stand in front of a painting at the National Museum of Western Art in Taito Ward, Tokyo, in January.
The Emperor, the Empress and their daughter Princess Aiko will visit Okinawa Prefecture from June 4 to 5 in the year of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Imperial Household Agency and the prefecture announced on Wednesday.
The visit will be Princess Aiko's first trip to the prefecture, and will be the first time in nine years for the Imperial family to jointly carry out public duties away from Tokyo since August 2016, when they visited Nagano Prefecture to attend a Mountain Day ceremony.
The Imperial family are scheduled to offer flowers at the National War Dead Peace Mausoleum in the prefectural city of Itoman on June 4. The next day, they will visit the memorial monument for the victims aboard Tsushima-maru, a ship carrying schoolchildren fleeing from Okinawa Prefecture during the war, which was torpedoed by a U.S. submarine off Kagoshima Prefecture.
According to the Okinawa prefectural government, the Imperial visit was proposed by prefecture. Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki will accompany the Imperial family for the entire trip.
This will be the second visit to the prefecture by the Emperor and the Empress since their enthronement, and their first visit since October 2022 when they attended the National Cultural Festival and other events.
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