Notable people that the emperor and empress met during the said visit included the first Philippine president Emilio Aguinaldo, who was then at the old age of 93, Vice Pres Emmanuel Pelaez, Carlos P. Romulo, Alejandro Roces, and a young Gloria Macapagal.
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“During World War II, countless Filipino, American, and Japanese lives were lost in the Philippines”.
Akihito’s remorse over the war helps to improve Japan’s global image, counter-balancing his government’s more nationalist bent, according to Manila-based political analyst Richard Javad Heydarian. “This is something we Japanese must never forget and we intend to keep this engraved in our hearts throughout our visit”, Emperor Akihito said.
The official events of his five-day trip began this morning with a red-carpet welcome ceremony at the presidential palace hosted by President Benigno Aquino.
President Aquino led a toast for “the strategic partnership of our two nations (which) serve as a firm cornerstone for peace, stability, and progress in our part of the world”.
Akihito is to pay his respects at memorials for both Philippine and Japanese war dead during his visit, which ends Saturday.
President Aquino gave them a tour of the presidential palace after they signed the guest book at the reception hall before they held a private meeting.
Japan’s emperor said Tuesday that his nation must remember the tremendous loss of life in the Philippines during World War II, as he and his wife embarked for a four-day visit to the Southeast Asian country. Akihito’s visit 30 years after the bloody Battle of Okinawa came when residents’ anger toward the Japanese government and its war responsibility was still strong.
The emperor and empress have previously journeyed to other Pacific battle sites where Japanese troops and civilians made desperate last stands in the name of wartime emperor Hirohito, Akihito’s father.
Of the apology, the emperor’s press secretary said his principal has delivered a short speech before he left Japan expressing his “profound grief that is known by President [Aquino] as well”.
The brief discussion by Aquino and Akihito touched on the emperor’s previous visit to the Philippines in 1962, when he was still the crown prince, to upbeat developments like the robust sales of Japanese-made cars that have contributed to Manila’s heavy traffic and the entry of Japanese retail store Uniqlo, presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma Jr.
Tens of thousands also died in an excruciating 100-kilometre (65-mile) march from a Filipino military stronghold in Bataan province to Japanese concentration camps.
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“To the emperor of Japan, talk to your leader about Filipina grandmothers who are fighting for their rights”, one of seven former sex slaves at the protest, Narcisa Claveria, 85, said over a megaphone.
