Emperor, Empress to Visit Okinawa from March 27

March 5, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will visit the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa for three days from March 27, the Imperial Household Agency said Monday.

The Imperial couple will visit World War II battlefields in southern Okinawa to mourn the war dead. In addition, they will make their first visit to the Okinawa island of Yonaguni at the country's westernmost point, the agency said.

The trip will be the couple's first visit to Okinawa in four years and is expected to be the final one in their current positions since Emperor Akihito is slated to abdicate in April 2019.

The Okinawa tour was arranged following the couple's strong wish to visit there before the abdication. For many years, they have shown strong interest in Okinawa, where 200,000 people, including civilians, died in the savage battle during the late stage of the war.

The Emperor and Empress have visited Okinawa 10 times so far, including trips they made as the Crown Prince and Princess.

On March 27, the Imperial couple will offer flowers at the National War Dead Peace Mausoleum, after visiting the Okinawa Peace Hall, both located on the main island of the prefecture.

On the next day, they will make a day trip to Yonaguni to visit the cape of Irizaki, where a monument indicating Japan's westernmost tip stands, and watch a traditional performing art.

In addition, they will observe the Yonaguni uma, a native horse, and the Yonagunisan, a native atlas moth variety that is one of the largest moths in the world.

On March 29, they will watch a karate performance at the Okinawa Karate Kaikan hall that opened last year in the city of Tomigusuku.

The couple have expressed their sympathy with people living on remote islands, including Yonaguni. In a televised video message in August 2016 in which Emperor Akihito signaled his wish to step down, he said his trips to remote places and islands in Japan are "important acts of the Emperor as the symbol of the state."

In November last year, the Emperor and the Empress visited three islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, which sits next to Okinawa. They met residents evacuated from Kuchinoerabu, another Kagoshima island, following a volcanic eruption there in 2015. Jiji Press