PM receives Japanese emperor, empress

Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived last evening on a six-day state visit and were received by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur at the Air Force Station at Palam

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will be the minister-in-waiting for the imperial couple during their visit to New Delhi and Chennai.

Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. Pic/AFP

The visit by the Japanese imperial couple is the first since the emperor ascended the throne. They had visited India 53 years ago in November-December 1960 for their honeymoon as the crown prince and princess of Japan.

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