Emperor, Empress visit Okinawa island of Yonaguni

March 28, 2018

Yonaguni, Okinawa Pref.- Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko made their first-ever visit to the Okinawa Prefecture island of Yonaguni, the westernmost part of Japan, on Wednesday.

The couple, who arrived in the southernmost Japan prefecture on Tuesday for a three-day tour, flew to the island from Naha, the capital of Okinawa, aboard a special jet.

The Emperor and the Empress went to a ranch in the town of Yonaguni on the island and observed Yonaguni uma native horses.

Patting one of the horses on the head, the Emperor said, "It's quite small and gentle."

The couple will also go to the cape of Irizaki, where there is a monument showing that it is the westernmost tip of the country, before returning to Naha early in the evening.

The ongoing tour was arranged based on the couple's strong wish to visit Okinawa before the Emperor's abdication at the end of April 2019.

In a televised message in August 2016, Emperor Akihito signaled his wish to step down due to his old age while saying that 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 couple visited three islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan. A plan for them to visit the island of Rishiri in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido in August this year is under consideration. Jiji Press