Emperor, Empress Visit Exhibition of Artworks by Disabled

Gifu, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Tuesday visited an exhibition of the National Arts and Culture Festival for Persons with Disabilities in the city of Gifu, the capital of the namesake prefecture in central Japan.

The Emperor and Empress looked at artworks such as paintings and watched people with disabilities create them.

The Emperor asked Maki Yamada, 52, a woman with physical disabilities due to cerebral palsy, who paints with a brush attached to her foot, "What kind of feeling did you have when you were painting?"

Later, the Imperial couple visited the Gifu-Kakamigahara Air and Space Museum in Kakamigahara in the same prefecture.

Astronaut Naoko Yamazaki briefed them on Japan's experimental module Kibo at the International Space Station in front of a model of the module. The Empress asked Yamazaki, "Were there any problems or difficulties during your (ISS) stay?"

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]