Japan emperor, empress mull Pearl Harbor visit

[unhappycamper]

Japan emperor, empress mull Pearl Harbor visit
Kyodo News Service
Posted : Sunday Mar 1, 2009 8:27:06 EST

WASHINGTON — Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko plan a visit around July to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, the scene of Japan’s surprise attack that ushered in the Pacific part of World War II, sources close to Japan-U.S. relations said Sunday.

The visit would be set on the way back to Japan from the couple’s planned official trip to Canada this summer, with the Japanese and U.S. governments working to finalize the schedule, the sources told Kyodo News.

If realized, it would be a moment to symbolize the postwar reconciliation between the two countries, as no sitting Japanese premiers have so far gone to Pearl Harbor. Japanese House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono visited in December.

The imperial couple has a track record of making pilgrimages to war-linked places — Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Okinawa Prefecture in 1995, and Saipan, a commonwealth territory of the United States, in 2005, which respectively marked the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the end of the war.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the world’s first and second atom-bombed cities, and Okinawa is the only part of Japan that experienced ground battles during the war. Saipan is a site of fierce wartime battles between Japan and the United States.


Rest of article at: http://navytimes.com/news/2009/03/kyodo_pearl_harbor_visit_030109/%2e