Empress Michiko visited a photo exhibition Friday in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, commemorating a member of the nongovernmental organization Peshawar-kai who was abducted and killed by insurgents in Afghanistan in August 2008.
The Empress and Emperor Akihito take an interest in the activities of the organization and expressed their condolences to the parents of Kazuya Ito after his death.
The Empress wrote in a letter on her birthday in October 2008 that Ito's death was a regrettable and sad incident. In this year's letter, she mentioned that the irrigation system Ito was working on was completed in August.
The exhibition displays photographs Ito took of children in Afghanistan, among other photos. The Empress, while looking at a photo of Ito watching children preserving food for domestic animals, commented, "The children look happy."
Ito's family members were also at the exhibition and talked with the Empress.
His parents said the Empress visited the exhibition after they sent a photo album with some of the pictures to her via the Imperial Household Agency.
