JAPAN: The emperor of Japan, Akihito, and his wife Michiko arrived in the US protectorate of Saipan in the Pacific ocean yesterday to commemorate the battle that took place on the island during the second World War.
The trip was the first overseas visit by an emperor to honour Japan's war dead. But it was criticised by China and South Korea who wondered why the emperor had not visited their countries.
There was also some controversy in Japan as media reports indicated that some officials in the imperial household agency opposed the trip and only relented when the emperor expressed a strong desire to go.
The battle of Saipan was one of the bloodiest between Japan and the US. Japan says 43,000 of its troops along with 12,000 Japanese civilians and 900 local islanders died during the fighting, which took place between June 15th and July 9th 1944. - (Guardian Service)