By the People’s Side: Imperial Family Visits to Disaster Areas

Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako talk to victims at an evacuation center following the Great East Japan Earthquake. Photograph taken in June 2011, Yamamoto, Miyagi Prefecture. (© Jiji)

Kanegae Kan’ichi, mayor of Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture, explains the situation to Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko during their July 10, 1991, visit to the city after the June 3 eruption of Mount Unzen’s peak of Fugen-dake, in which. 43 people died from pyroclastic flows. (Courtesy Kanegae Kan’ichi; © Jiji)

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko sit while talking to evacuated residents in Shimabara, Nagasaki, following the eruption of Mount Unzen. Taken July 10, 1991. (© Kyōdō)

The emperor and empress talking to people in the Miyako Public Sports Hall shelter after the Great East Japan Earthquake on May 6, 2011, Miyako, Iwate Prefecture. (© Jiji)

Haketa Shingo during an interview on February 22, 2024, in Minato, Tokyo. (© Nippon.com)

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako observe the “Miracle Pine” at the Takatamatsubara Memorial Park for Tsunami Disaster, Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, on June 3, 2023. (© Jiji)

Crown Prince Naruhito performs on a viola with the “Miracle Pine” painted on its back at a July 2013 Gakushūin University Alumni Orchestra concert in Toshima, Tokyo. (© Jiji)

Nakazawa Muneyuki, a stringed-instrument maker, holding the Tsunami viola played by Emperor Naruhito (then crown prince). Taken on February 19, 2024, in Shibuya, Tokyo. (© Nippon.com)