The late Okinawa Gov. Chobyo Yara experienced extreme anxiety in 1975 ahead of Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko's first visit to the prefecture, according to Yara's recently disclosed diary.
Amid negative sentiment toward the Imperial family among Okinawas, Yara (1902-1997) wrote on July 8, 1975, that he could only "turn to God" for the Imperial Couple's visit to turn out a success, his diary, disclosed in September by the Okinawa Prefectural Archives, shows.
In the diary, Yara writes of the stress he felt ahead of the visit by the Crown Prince and Princess — now Emperor and Empress — on July 17 that year to attend the Okinawa International Ocean Expo, held in part to commemorate the prefecture's reversion to Japan in 1972 following its postwar administration by the U.S. military.