Imperial Couple start visit to Kagoshima pref. islands

November 16, 2017

Yakushima, Kagoshima Pref.- Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko on Thursday started a three-day visit to the islands of Yakushima, Okinoerabu and Yoron in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

This became the Imperial couple's first visit to the prefecture in 14 years. They will be visiting Okinoerabu and Yoron for the first time ever.

The latest visit took the couple to all of Japan's 47 prefectures for the second round since the Emperor's accession to the throne in 1989.

At Kagoshima Airport, the Emperor and Empress received explanations from Kagoshima Governor Satoshi Mitazono about the reconstruction efforts made in the island of Kuchinoerabu, near Yakushima, after the May 2015 volcanic eruption.

They then flew to Yakushima Airport.

Visiting Yakushima for the first time in 45 years, the couple will meet with five Kuchinoerabu residents. All residents of the volcanic island were temporarily evacuated after the eruption.

The Emperor and Empress will arrive on Okinoerabu in early evening.

On Friday, they will visit Yurigahama, a scenic beach on Yoron, and watch a local folk art performance there.

On Saturday, the couple will visit a lily farm on Okinoerabu and an elementary school in the same island, before returning to Tokyo.

According to the Imperial Household Agency, the Emperor and Empress planned to visit Amami Oshima, also an island in Kagoshima, which suffered damage from torrential rains in 2010, as well as Okinoerabu and Yoron in 2012. But the plan was canceled due to the Emperor's bad health at the time and the impacts of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that mainly struck northeastern Japan.

After World War II, the Amami island chain, including Okinoerabu and Yoron, was temporarily separated from Japan's mainland, together with Okinawa, currently the country's southernmost prefecture, to be put under rule of the United States.

The Imperial couple have shown their strong interest in such history of the southern islands. Jiji Press