Emperor, Empress Attend Japan Games Ceremony in Saga

Saga, Oct. 5 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Saturday attended the general opening ceremony of the Japan Games sports festival in the southwestern prefecture of Saga.

The Imperial couple arrived in Saga in the morning aboard a special airplane from Haneda airport in Tokyo.

The annual sports event began in 1946 as the National Sports Festival and was rebranded as the Japan Games this year. The 2024 event is the 78th of its kind.

In the ceremony, held at Saga Stadium in the prefecture's eponymous capital city, Emperor Naruhito paid tributes to people who died in the Jan. 1 earthquake in the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan, and other disasters that struck the nation, and expressed sympathy to those who survived.

"I hope that this tournament will endure in people's hearts and be successful as the dawn of the Japan Games," the Emperor said, referring to the rebrand.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]