P-Noy meets with Japan's emperor

TOKYO – President Aquino attended a luncheon hosted by Japanese Emperor Akihito at the Imperial Palace to conclude his four-day working visit to Japan.

After the luncheon, Aquino headed to the Haneda airport for his flight back to Manila.

Aquino was accompanied to the luncheon by Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, Philippine Ambassador to Japan Manuel Lopez, Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, and Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo.                         

The President also met with Japan International Cooperation Agency president Sadako Ogata and the Japan-Philippines Parliamentarian Friendship League.

Aquino invited the Emperor and the Empress to visit the country in 2012 with members of the imperial family at a mutually convenient date.

Yesterday morning, he met with Nikkei president Ryoko Sugita who invited him to be a speaker at the Future of Asia forum in Japan on May 24 to 25, 2012.

The President thanked him for the invitation and said he would “seriously consider” the invitation and hoped that “the affairs of state will permit me to accept.”

Middle East, Europe visits next

Palace Communications Group Secretary Herminio Coloma said Aquino informed Sugita that he will likely visit the Middle East and Europe next year to meet with Filipino migrant communities.

“Sugita said that if the President is able to accept, he would like to invite the President, too, to travel to Kyoto to meet with a descendant of the Grandmaster of the Tea Ceremony. The Grandmaster was a Christian at a time when Christianity was officially banned in Japan. Aquino said there is a monument in honor of the Grandmaster near his residence in Quezon City.”

Coloma said Sugita also shared with the President a vignette about a speech given by Noda before he was elected by his party. He said he “can’t be a goldfish,” and would be “more suited to be a mudfish or a catfish,” Coloma said.

“They both observed that the Prime Minister is down-to-earth and congenial. The President expressed the view that, to be effective, a leader has to be close to the people.”