Japanese Emperor Akihito (3rd L) and Empress Michiko (3rd R) wave to the people greeting the new year, with other members of the royal family, from the balcony of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan, on Jan. 2, 2016. (Photo: Xinhua/Ma Ping)
Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko departed from Tokyo on Tuesday for a five-day trip to the Philippines to mourn the victims of World War II and to mark the 60th year of the normalization of ties between the two countries.
While the couple visited the Philippines in 1962 as crown prince and princess, the trip marks the first ever official visit by a sitting Japanese emperor to the Philippines.
Prior to the royal couple's departure from Tokyo's Haneda airport, the emperor noted that among the 1.1 million Filipino lives lost during the war, many of them were innocent civilians.
"In the Philippines, many lives of Filipino, U.S. and Japanese people were lost during the previous war. Especially, an enormous number of innocent Filipino civilians fell victim in the urban combat in Manila," the emperor said.
He added that "We'd like to carry out this visit while always bearing this in mind."
The trip came at the request of Philippine President Benigno Aquino who invited the royal couple to visit the Philippines during a state visit he made here in June last year.
The royal couple have been visiting some countries that were brutalized by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during WWII with the Philippines being the latest on the list.
The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) launched air strikes on the then U.S. occupied Philippines on Dec. 8, 1941, which was the same day the IJA attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, leading to an intense escalation in the war in the Pacific region.
Japan's occupation of Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, began in early 1942. In a month-long battle between Japan and the U.S. in Manila in 1945, around 100,000 innocent Filipino civilians perished in the city.
Following the royal couple meeting with members of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers after their arrival in the Philippines, they are scheduled to attend an official event at the Malacanang Palace on Wednesday as state guests.
The Emperor is expected to deliver a speech at a welcome banquet at the palace.
On Friday, the couple will travel to Caliraya on the outskirts of Manila to pay their respects at a local war monument, erected to commemorate the lives lost during the war. They will also visit a cemetery to pay their respects, specifically to the lives of Filipinos lost during the war.
The royal couple are scheduled to return to Japan on Saturday.
