Akihito to Bypass Pearl Harbor, Pay Respects at 2 Sites of U.S. Dead

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will not visit Pearl Harbor but will pay respects to U.S. war dead at two other sites during a 17-day tour of the United States beginning June 10, the Japanese government announced today.

The trip, which will include a two-day stopover in Los Angeles, will be only the second by an emperor to the United States--and the first in 19 years.

Foreign Ministry diplomats initially had urged the emperor to visit Pearl Harbor, but fears of repercussions at home from a visit to the memorial to the battleship Arizona--which many Americans regard as the symbol of Japan’s “sneak attack” on Dec. 7, 1941--finally killed the proposal.

The couple will instead visit the Punch Bowl cemetery in Honolulu and Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.

“If the emperor visited the Arizona memorial, some (Japanese) would argue that the emperor was being used for political purposes,” said a Foreign Ministry diplomat who asked not to be named.

The U.S. visit by Akihito, 60, and Michiko, 59, underscores the changes that have slowly enveloped the imperial family since the end of the war. Until the late Emperor Hirohito made a trip to Europe as crown prince in 1921 and retraced his steps as emperor 50 years later, none of his 123 predecessors had ever left Japan.

By contrast, Akihito, tutored in English as a student, and Michiko, the first commoner ever to marry an emperor, traveled abroad frequently as crown prince and princess.

Akihito has visited the United States four times, including two stopovers. He visited Pearl Harbor on a trip in 1960, before the memorial to the battleship Arizona and its crew was built.

During the June trip, the imperial couple will visit 11 cities--including Atlanta, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu--before returning to Tokyo on June 26.

Only 10 days ago, Michiko delivered a public speech for the first time since she collapsed Oct. 20 and lost her voice. The Imperial Household Agency said she had recovered to the point where she has “almost no trouble” carrying on daily conversations.

In the Los Angeles area June 20-22, the imperial couple is scheduled to visit the Huntington Library and Art Collections, a Japan-America museum and a retirement home for Americans of Japanese origin, and meet former President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy.