Japan's emperor and empress, on a landmark visit to Vietnam, are expected to express their sympathies when they meet tomorrow with Vietnamese women abandoned by their Japanese soldier husbands after World War II.
Sixteen surviving wives and their children have been invited to meet with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, the emperor's press secretary, Hatsuhisa Takashima, said today.
Some 600 to 800 Japanese soldiers remained in Vietnam and trained Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh to fight the French forces after Japan surrendered to the allies in 1945. About half of them were killed in fighting with the French or died of illness.
An initial group of 71 ex-soldiers was forced by the Communist North to return to Japan without being able to bring their Vietnamese wives and children, who faced economic hardship and discrimination after the husbands left. The last group of soldiers left the North in 1960, but was able to bring family members.
"The emperor and empress are fully aware of the agonies and hardships experienced by the Vietnamese wives and families and they are very much sympathetic to the situation, although they were told that and they now know that ... The Vietnamese wives and children's status in society in this country has been dramatically improved and now they're living very happy life," Takashima said.
"But on this special occasion of imperial visit to this country, they express their desire to meet with some of the members of this special group and say a few words with them to simply express their sympathy and also their warm feeling toward them, just like they have been doing in many other countries and many places in Japan," he said.
Akihito and Michiko arrived in Vietnam yesterday on the first-ever visit to Vietnam by a Japanese emperor.
On Wednesday, the emperor and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang reviewed an honor guard before heading for private talks.
Takashima said the emperor told his host that he "was pleased to have this opportunity to visit for the first time to Vietnam." He said that "the emperor stressed the importance of the mutual understanding and also efforts to improve the bilateral relations that require the efforts between our two countries.
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