As this year marks 70 years since the end of World War II, Emperor Akihito plans to fulfill his long-held desire to visit Palau next week, a decade after infrastructure issues ruined his previous plans.
Before the Emperor and Empress Michiko visited Saipan in 2005 for their first overseas trip to commemorate the war dead, trips to Palau, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia had been considered but abandoned due to obstacles, including the lack of a runway suitable for Japanese government aircraft.
But this time, the April 8 to 9 trip to Palau, about 3,000 km due south of Shikoku, will be carried out by a private chartered plane.