Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako arrived in Hiroshima Prefecture on Thursday to commemorate the victims of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of the city of Hiroshima, as this year marks 80 years since the end of World War II.

A special plane carrying the imperial couple left Tokyo's Haneda Airport in the morning and arrived in Hiroshima for their first visit to the prefecture since the emperor's enthronement in 2019.

The emperor and empress visited the Peace Memorial Park in the city of Hiroshima in the afternoon to offer flowers at the cenotaph for those who died in the atomic bombing.