Prince William swaps royal notes with Japan emperor
February 27, 2015
The young scion of the House of Windsor was welcomed by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at the entrance of the imposing palace, which is cut off from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo by a large moat.
Akihito, whose family claims to be able to trace its imperial ancestry for thousands of years looked frail next to the hearty former helicopter pilot, whose wife, Kate, is due to give birth to the couple´s second child in April.
Pictures showed William, 32, shaking hands with the 81-year-old emperor, and Japanese media reported he had thanked the royal couple for an invitation that had brought him to Japan for the first time.
Speaking at a reception later in the day, William said he was "immensely honoured to have been received by Their Majesties".
William, who is also Duke of Cambridge, later met Crown Prince Naruhito at a separate palace for a tea ceremony.
The younger prince towered above his Japanese counterpart, standing a good head and shoulders taller than a man who lives a different, more cloistered existence than the jet-set lifestyles of William and his brother, Harry.
On the death of his father, Naruhito will inherit the Chrysanthemum Throne, a role that was largely stripped of its quasi-religious mystique by American occupiers after World War II.
William had spent the morning paying tribute to British and other soldiers who gave their lives during those hostilities over seven decades ago, laying a wreath at a Commonwealth War Cemetery in Yokohama, near Tokyo.
The cemetery is the resting place of 1,700 prisoners of war brought to Japan as forced labourers during Tokyo´s ill-fated stomp through Asia, which ended in brutal atomic defeat in 1945.
