US president Donald Trump has met Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace, becoming the first world leader to have an audience with the new Japanese monarch, who ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne in early May.
Naruhito and Empress Masako greeted Mr Trump and his wife Melania at the palace in central Tokyo on the third day of the American president’s four-day state visit to Japan. Mr Trump will return to the Imperial Palace on Monday evening for a state banquet that will also be attended by Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister.
In meeting Naruhito, Mr Trump became the only leader to have met the current and previous emperor. Naruhito assumed the throne after his father Akihito became the first monarch to abdicate in 200 years. His ascension marked the start of the “Reiwa” era — translated as “beautiful harmony” — in the imperial calendar.