Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress will visit Okinawa Prefecture for the first time since their accession to the throne for two days, starting on the 22nd, in order to attend the opening ceremony of the National Cultural Festival and other events.
Their Majesties will arrive in Okinawa Prefecture on a special plane on the afternoon of the 22nd, and will meet with officials who attended the commemorative ceremony held in May this year, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Okinawa's reversion to Japan.
On the morning of the 23rd, His Majesty the Emperor will attend the opening ceremonies of the "National Cultural Festival" and the "National Arts and Cultural Festival for Persons with Disabilities" to be held at the Okinawa Convention Center in Ginowan City, where His Majesty the Emperor will make a speech.
The "National Cultural Festival" is one of the annual events attended by Their Majesties, but last year it was all held online, including the last year's event, which was postponed due to the influence of the new coronavirus. .
Their Majesties are scheduled to return to Tokyo on the afternoon of the 23rd after completing their two-day schedule.
It is also the first time for His Majesty the Emperor to visit Okinawa Prefecture since his accession to the throne, and the sixth since his first visit in 1987, before he became Crown Prince.
This will be the first visit by Their Majesties since 1997.
Stay close to Okinawa while inheriting the feelings of the retired emperor
While cherishing the feelings of the retired emperor, His Majesty the Emperor stands close to Okinawa, which has gone through a history of hardships.
Since childhood, he has deepened his understanding of Okinawa's history and culture by participating in conversations between Okinawan children called "bean reporters" who experience the work of reporters during their summer vacations and the Emperor and Empress. I was.
Since the beginning of the Heisei era, in the form of inheriting from the retired emperor and wife, as the crown prince and wife, I have continued to interact with the "mameshika" with the Empress. When I was there, I even played volleyball with the children.
At this time, Princess Aiko, who was a junior high school student, also joined the circle.
At a press conference held on the occasion of his 2015 birthday, he said, "Every year, when I meet with Okinawan journalists and those dispatched from the mainland to Okinawa, I talk about Okinawan culture and the intensity of the ground war in Okinawa. I remember hearing about it," he said.
In addition, at the press conference on his birthday, he said, "This is the 50th anniversary of the reversion to the mainland, and I myself will once again reconsider the path that Okinawa has taken so far. I would like to put my heart into it,” he said.
Bereaved families of the Battle of Okinawa look forward to visits by Their Majesties
Naeko Teruya, 86, the former chairman of the Okinawa Prefectural Federation of Bereaved Families, who lost five members of her family, including her father and younger siblings, in the Battle of Okinawa during the Pacific War. I am looking forward to it.
When she met her Emperor Emeritus in 1993, when he and his Empress Emerita visited Okinawa Prefecture for the first time as an emperor, she said that she could not accept the visit obediently.
Teruya said, ``I had many things in my heart, such as why the imperial family was unable to stop this war, and when I first met him, he welcomed me with mixed feelings rather than gratitude. I was doing it,” he recalls.
However, the Emperor and Empress visited Okinawa many times after that, and gradually changed their minds when they saw their affection.
In 2010, she had a direct conversation with His Majesty the Emperor, who was her crown prince, and it is said that he sensed the feeling of inheriting the feelings of the retired emperor and being close to Okinawa.
Mr. Teruya said, "His Majesty the Emperor asked, 'Who did you lose?' I think that I was educated from a young age.I felt that the bereaved family was also concerned.
This time, Ms. Teruya keeps a photo of her mother, Tsuru, who passed away at the age of 68 after the war, in her wallet and will be welcoming her Majesties.
Her mother, Tsuru, worked alone from morning to night to raise Teruya's remaining siblings.
Although she lived in poverty, she never spoke about the war.
Mr. Teruya said that many people in Okinawa had to walk the path of hardships even after the war, and said, ``One word or two words of His Majesty the Emperor have entered our hearts, and we will continue to live from now on. I would like to ask you to continue to remember Okinawa and keep your hearts on Okinawa."