Royal couple pay tribute to U.S. war dead, hail scholarship

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HONOLULU, July 15 Kyodo -
Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko paid tribute Wednesday to more
than 50,000 U.S. soldiers, including Japanese-American servicemen who died
during World War II, in a wreath-laying ceremony in Honolulu.
Braving sudden heavy rain, the royal couple listened to the national anthems of
Japan and the United States played by a U.S. Marine Corps music band. The
emperor then placed his hands on the wreath and the couple offered a silent
prayer at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the
Punchbowl.
The ceremony featured a 21-gun salute with the firing of cannons and a fly-by
by U.S. military and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force planes. The royal
couple also honored the war dead at the cemetery during their previous trip to
Hawaii in 1994.
Among the U.S. soldiers and their families who are buried at the Punchbowl,
which opened in 1949, are victims of the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, those killed
in the Korean, Vietnam and Gulf wars and U.S. astronaut Ellison Onizuka of
Hawaii who perished aboard the Challenger space shuttle. Onizuka was a member
of the U.S. Air Force.
Later in the day, the imperial couple took part in a luncheon hosted by Hawaii
Gov. Linda Lingle. Wearing a white aloha shirt, the emperor received lei
flowers from the governor.
In the evening, the emperor and the empress attended a banquet to celebrate the
50th anniversary of a scholarship program that was established to commemorate
their wedding half a century ago. About 1,600 people, including alumni of the
program and representatives of the Japanese-American community, participated in
the dinner.
''We are very appreciative that his majesty has allowed us to identify this
scholarship in his name,'' Howard Hamamoto, 78, chairman of the Board of
Trustees for the Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship Foundation, said in an
opening address.
He said bearing the imperial name has brought ''a great deal of prestige to the
scholarship,'' as it has enabled the program to draw outstanding scholars.
The emperor said in a speech before a toast that it was a ''great pleasure'' to
meet people involved with the scholarship, which was the brainchild of
Japanese-Americans in Hawaii, and paid his ''most sincere tribute'' to those
concerned.
He also expressed his hope that Japan and Hawaii will strengthen their friendship.
Carl Becker, a 58-year-old professor at Kyoto University, was also invited to
the banquet as one of the scholars who studied in Japan. Along with 53 other
scholars, he met the royal couple in person following the banquet.
Becker, who came to Japan in 1974 as a graduate student of the University of
Hawaii, has told Kyodo News that he met with the emperor and the empress in the
1980s when they were crown prince and princess and that he feels they have long
contributed to promoting peace and goodwill.
The professor said he is honored and feels responsible as an alumnae of the
scholarship bearing the emperor's name, and expressed hope that he can ''return
a favor'' by trying to improve mutual understanding between Japan and the
United States through his academic achievements.
==Kyodo