Emperor Naruhito met with twelve Japanese residents in Britain and ten Britons with connections to Japan at a hotel in London on Sunday during his official visit to the European country.
He reunited with Arthur Stockwin, 88, professor emeritus of Japanese politics at the University of Oxford, where the emperor had studied, and shared memories of attending Stockwin’s seminar. Stockwin told reporters after the meeting that the Emperor’s presence at the seminar had made it interesting.
Emperor Naruhito spoke to the ten British without an interpreter.
During the meeting with Japanese nationals, the emperor asked 68-year-old Oxford University professor Takehiko Kariya about his students’ reactions to his teaching and said he has “many fond memories of Oxford.”
Ryoichi Hirano, 40, a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet, told the emperor that he is recovering from an injury. The emperor said that Hirano dances with intense movements and wished the dancer well.
According to the Imperial Household Agency, Empress Masako was absent from events on Sunday on medical advice due to fatigue from her flight to Britain.
