A visit to a Buddhist temple and Shinto shrine in Kyoto and a meeting with students in Siem Reap will feature in U.S. first lady Michelle Obama's five-day tour this week to Japan and Cambodia, the White House said.
The main purpose of the trip, which starts Wednesday in Tokyo, will be to push her efforts to give more girls around the world academic opportunities as well as to promote the activities of the Peace Corps, a U.S. volunteer organization, in the two countries, officials said.
It will be Obama's first visit to Japan as first lady and the first ever trip to Cambodia by the wife of a sitting U.S. president, according to Tina Tchen, her chief of staff, and Evan Medeiros, senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council.