Japanese imperial couple attend welcome ceremony in Mongolia
The couple's eight-day trip through July 13 is meant to reaffirm the friendship between the two nations, with this year marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
After meeting President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh and his wife at the government building in Ulaanbaatar, the emperor and the empress are expected to participate in a banquet hosted by the Mongolian leader later in the day.
The two are also scheduled to lay flowers at a memorial to commemorate Japanese nationals who died while in internment camps there after the war.
After arriving in Mongolia on Sunday, the emperor visited the Chinggis Khaan National Museum and a water facility built with Japanese aid before attending the official events.
Following World War II, the Soviet military transferred around 14,000 of some 575,000 Japanese prisoners of war from Siberia to Mongolia, putting them to work on infrastructure projects for around two years. More than 1,700 are believed to have died.
The Japanese government later established a memorial on a hill in Dambadarjaa, a former cemetery for the deceased POWs on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar.
Mongolia, sandwiched between China and Russia, established diplomatic relations with Japan in 1972. The two countries have enjoyed a close relationship since Mongolia embarked on democratization and economic liberalization in 1990.
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