Horse-Drawn Carriages for Foreign Envoys Return after 3 Years

Tokyo, March 8 (Jiji Press)--Processions of horse-drawn carriages for newly appointed ambassadors to Japan were brought back on Wednesday for the first time in three years, following a suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Imperial Household Agency had decided to resume carriage processions transporting foreign ambassadors back and forth between Tokyo Station and the Imperial Palace, also in the Japanese capital, based on the Asian nation's COVID-19 infection situation.

Ambassadors take the journey on horse-drawn carriages to the palace to present letters of credence from their heads of state to Japan's Emperor Naruhito, and back to the station after the presentations.

On Wednesday, new ambassadors of Fiji and Pakistan handed their letters to the Emperor.

According to the agency, before the spread of the novel coronavirus, new ambassadors were given a choice between horse-drawn carriages and cars as means of transportation to and from the palace.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]