German President Frank Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender were received by Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on their visit to the Imperial Palace on Wednesday.
“It is a special honour that the emperor granted us one of his truly rare audiences since his accession to the throne. We are very, very grateful for this,” Steinmeier said in Tokyo after the meeting, which lasted less than an hour.
Then-crown prince Naruhito visited Berlin 10 years ago to mark the150th anniversary of German-Japanese relations. He planted a cherry tree in the park of Steinmeier’s Bellevue Palace.
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