Emperor Akihito arrived Wednesday in the Pacific island nation of Palau, where he will visit a World War II battlefield, the latest journey in his efforts to soothe the wounds of the conflict that still haunts Asia 70 years after its end.
Some 10,000 Japanese defenders died fighting in the name of the Emperor's father, Emperor Hirohito (known posthumously as Emperor Showa), in a two-month battle in 1944 on Palau's tiny Peleliu Island along with about 1,600 American troops.
Japan administered Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands in the interwar period.