Emperor Naruhito Meets Japanese, British People in London

London, June 23 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Emperor Naruhito on Sunday met with 12 Japanese residents in Britain and 10 British people with connections to Japan at a hotel in London during his official visit to the European country.

He reunited with Arthur Stockwin, 88, emeritus professor of Japanese politics at Oxford University, where the Emperor studied, and shared memories of Stockwin’s seminars. “Just him coming along, it made quite an interesting atmosphere in the seminar,” Stockwin told reporters after the meeting.

Emperor Naruhito spoke with the 10 British people without an interpreter.

In the meeting with Japanese nationals, the Emperor asked Oxford University professor Takehiko Kariya, 68, about his students’ reactions to his teaching and said that he had “many fond memories of Oxford.”

Ryoichi Hirano, 40, a principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, told the Emperor that he was rehabilitating from an injury. The Emperor said that Hirano danced with intense movements and wished the dancer his best.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]