Praying for the people who lost their lives in the war has indeed been a key purpose of the trips that Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko made over the span of his reign to the sites of fierce battles involving Japanese forces in the Pacific War.
Since their days as crown prince and princess, the Imperial couple has visited Okinawa — which experienced fierce ground battles that killed large numbers of civilians in the closing days of the war and came under extended U.S. military rules in the postwar decades — a total of 11 times, the latest in March this year that took place reportedly based on their strong wishes.
