Emperor, His Family Visit Disaster Memorial in Fukushima

Tomioka, Fukushima Pref., April 7 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and their daughter, Princess Aiko, on Tuesday visited a facility commemorating the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and the subsequent nuclear accident, in Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture. The Historical Archive Museum of Tomioka houses permanent exhibits of items damaged in the disaster that mainly struck the Tohoku northeastern region. Among the exhibits is a police car that was engulfed by the tsunami while the officers were guiding residents to evacuate. One of the two police officers who were in the car at the time of the disaster was killed, while the other remains unaccounted for. The Imperial Family viewed the exhibits with solemn expressions, with Empress Masako quoted as saying, “It is painful.” Watching a recreated display of the town’s disaster response headquarters at the time of the catastrophe, Emperor Naruhito asked, “What was the hardest thing?” The family is scheduled to observe classes for elementary and junior high school students at “Manabiya Yumenomori,” an educational facility in the town of Okuma, before returning to Tokyo on Tuesday night. Okuma is one of the two municipalities that host Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s tsunami-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. They arrived in Fukushima on Monday on a trip to inspect reconstruction efforts following the disaster, laying flowers at a memorial museum in Futaba, the other host town to the nuclear power plant. In a statement issued through a chamberlain on Monday night, the Emperor and Empress expressed their condolences to the victims, reflected on the hardships endured by the people of Fukushima and renewed their respect for those who have dedicated themselves to the reconstruction efforts. This is the first time since the disaster that members of the Imperial Family have visited either of the municipalities hosting the nuclear plant. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]