TOKYO – Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will visit three prefectures in the northeastern Tohoku region in March and April, accompanied by their daughter, Princess Aiko, 15 years after a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the region, Japan’s Imperial Household Agency said Wednesday.
The trip to Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures will mark the emperor’s first visit since he ascended to the throne, with a focus on touring areas affected by the March 11, 2011, disaster.
The emperor told reporters last month ahead of his Feb. 23 birthday that the impact of the disaster cannot be measured by the number of years that have passed, saying, “I intend to continue standing with the people in those areas.”
The agency said the imperial family will fly from Tokyo’s Haneda airport on March 25 to Iwate Prefecture, where they will lay flowers at a memorial facility in Otsuchi and then meet survivors in Ofunato.
They will move on to neighboring Miyagi Prefecture the following day and visit a museum themed around the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in Minamisanriku and a disaster memorial park in Ishinomaki.
After returning to Tokyo, the imperial family will go to Fukushima Prefecture on April 6 by bullet train, according to the agency.
They are scheduled to offer flowers at a museum in Futaba on the earthquake and subsequent nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. They will stay at the J-Village sports facility in Naraha and Hirono, then visit Tomioka, Okuma and Namie the following day.
The imperial couple visited disaster-hit areas of the prefectures multiple times when they were crown prince and princess.
AloJapan.com