Emperor Naruhito Scheduled To Attend Queen Elizabeth's Funeral, PM Kishida Chooses To Fly To New York

Photo via Twitter @BritishArmy

JAKARTA - Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako are scheduled to attend Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral in England next week.

That means Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will make their first overseas trip since taking the throne in 2019, Japan Today, Wednesday 14 September.

Usually, emperors do not attend funerals in Japan and abroad, although other members of the royal family do.

Local media cited the close relationship between Japanese and British royalty as a possible reason for Naruhito's presence.

Naruhito's father, Akihito, attended the queen's coronation in 1953 as crown prince succeeding then-emperor Hirohito. In 1975, the queen made the first visit to Japan by a British monarch and met Hirohito.

While Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other government officials are not following in the footsteps of the Japanese emperor, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference.

Kishida instead plans to leave for New York on Monday to attend the UN General Assembly, he told a meeting at the prime minister's office.

"During the 70 years of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the British royal family and the Japanese imperial family have maintained friendly relations for three generations," the current emperor's grandfather and father, Matsuno, a government spokesman, said.