PRRD won’t have chance to meet Emperor Naruhito in Japan trip

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte boards a plane bound for Japan at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City on May 28, 2019. The President is set to participate in the 25th Nikkei Conference on the Future of Asia in Tokyo. REY BANIQUET/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte would not have the chance to meet Emperor Naruhito during his three-day trip to Japan, an envoy said on Tuesday.

Philippine Ambassador to Japan Jose Laurel V said Duterte would not be able to meet the emperor because of protocols and traditions.

“The Japanese have their own rituals. You have to understand them. You have to understand their culture, their system,” said Laurel in a press conference at the Philippine Embassy in Japan.

“And in the end, you get along with them because they have a system that you have to wait until they are crowned,” he added.

Laurel said none of the state leaders attending the 25th Nikkei Conference on the Future of Asia in Tokyo, including Duterte, would be able to meet the emperor.

“No one will see him not even anyone of the five that were invited to speak at Nikkei because Nikkei is a private affair,” Laurel said.

He said inviting just one of the state leaders would mean having to invite all state leaders to meet the emperor.

However, U.S. President Donald Trump is the first and only state leader to visit the emperor.

Emperor Naruhito ascended to the throne after his father Akihito ended his three-decade reign on April 30, making him the first emperor to abdicate in 200 years.

He will formally ascend to the throne in a ceremony on October 22.

Malacañang earlier expressed confidence that ties between the Philippines and Japan will remain strong under the reign of Emperor Naruhito.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said he expects the “golden age” for Philippines-Japan strategic partnership during Naruhito’s reign.

In 2016, Duterte met with then Japanese Emperor Akihito and his wife Empress Michiko in the Philippines during the 60th anniversary of the normalization of Philippine-Japan relations.