Emperor, Empress welcome Swedish royal couple



NHK News Video here

NHK reports that Japan's Emperor and Empress held a ceremony welcoming the Swedish king and queen at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Monday:

The Emperor and Empress introduced imperial family members and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to King Carl 16th Gustaf of Sweden and his wife, Queen Silvia.

The two countries' national anthems were played and the king received a salute from the Ground Self-Defense Force's honor guards.

After the ceremony, the Swedish king expressed his sympathy for people on the Sea of Japan coast that was hit by a powerful earthquake on Sunday.

The Emperor thanked the king, and said predicting when earthquakes will hit is more difficult than predicting the timing of typhoons and tsunamis.

The king praised the performance of Japanese female athletes at the recent World Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo, and the Emperor nodded to express his pleasure.

The Emperor and Empress will host a dinner party for the Swedish royal couple later on Monday, and take them to Saitama, north of Tokyo, during their 7-day visit.

In May, the imperial couple is scheduled to visit Sweden in return.

I went to Tokyo's fancy Imperial Hotel to make a program about the state visit. Today's symposium was about sustainable energy and global warming, a topic King Carl 16th Gustaf is apparently very interested in. With an increase in carbon dioxide emissions and concern about global climate change, technical progress is needed to improve energy conservation. We need to shift to alternate, renewable energy sources. This workshop discussed what it takes to move towards the establishment of sustainable industry and a sustainable society. Focus was also on innovations for energy savings, in sectors such as building heating and making lighting more efficient. More later.

(Photos from NHK and Dagens Nyheter)

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