Japan Emperor, Empress Meet with Disaster-Affected People in Ehime

Ozu, Ehime Pref., May 16 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Saturday afternoon visited the city of Ozu in Ehime Prefecture, western Japan, and met with people affected by a massive rain disaster that hit the region in 2018. During the meeting, the Emperor asked Rintaro Yamauchi, managing director of Yoro Shuzo, a sake brewery in Ozu, who took over his parents’ brewery after the disaster, “What was the most difficult part of the cleanup after the disaster?” The Empress said to him, “Please make good sake.” The Imperial couple arrived in Ehime Prefecture aboard a special flight from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport earlier on Saturday. Prior to the meeting with disaster-affected people, the Emperor and Empress visited Nagako Aquarium in Ozu, operated by the aquarium club of Nagahama High School, where they received explanations from students on their research on clownfish and octopus. “I used to keep clownfish myself,” the Emperor said, as he and the Empress looked closely into the tanks in the aquarium. On Sunday, the couple are slated to attend the 76th National Tree-Planting Festival in the city of Matsuyama, the capital of Ehime, and visit Tobe Zoological Park and a ceramic technology center in the town of Tobe in the same prefecture. They will return to Tokyo on Sunday night. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]