Emperor and Empress of Japan visit UBC - photo by Goh Iromoto

UBC Reports | Vol. 55 | No. 8 | Aug. 6, 2009

Emperor and Empress of Japan visit UBC

By Brian Lin

More than half a century after his first visit to UBC, His Majesty Emperor Akihito of Japan returned to the now fully mature Nitobe Memorial Garden July 13 as part of a cross-Canada tour celebrating the 80th anniversary of Japan-Canada diplomatic relations.

In 1953, then Crown Prince Akihito toured a smaller predecessor of the Garden on his way to attend Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. It was the 19-year-old Crown Prince’s first trip abroad.

His Majesty – who is also referred to as the Heisei Emperor to denote the era over which he reigns – was accompanied by Empress Michiko and spent more than 20 minutes conversing with 20 UBC students in the Garden, widely recognized as the most authentic traditional Japanese tea garden in North America.

“Being afforded an audience with Their Majesties was an extraordinary honour,” says Ciaran Dudley, a fourth-year Honours Asian Languages and Culture major. “I was most impressed by Their Majesties’ sincere interest in us students. They spoke with us rather than at us, which was very humbling.”

The tour of the Garden followed a brief presentation by Provost David Farrar at the Asian Centre, where Their Majesties perused rare maps and utagaruta poem cards from the UBC Library, including the Bankoku Sozu, a Japanese map of the world created in the late 1600s. A short film of His Majesty’s 1953 to UBC visit was also shown.

Upon seeing the footage of His Majesty as a young man, “Her Majesty’s face just lit up,” says Farrar, whose presentation highlighted a long history of academic linkages between UBC and Japan, including the UBC-Ritsumeikan University Academic Exchange Program, the Centre for Japanese Research, and the Dept. of Asian Studies.

The royal couple also toured the Museum of Anthropology’s Great Hall and viewed Bill Reid’s iconic Raven and The First Men sculpture before a luncheon hosted by President Stephen Toope.

UBC has also hosted other members of the Japanese royalty, including Prince and Princess Chichibu in 1937 and Prince Takamado, who attended the Asian Centre’s opening in 1981 and the opening of the Nitobe Memorial Garden in 1992. Princess Takamado returned in 2004 to mark the donation of a book collection by the Japan Foundation to the Asian Library.

This year, 328 Japanese students and hundreds more who are Canadian citizens of Japanese heritage studied at UBC. The university also attracts exchange students from and sends exchange students to Waseda, Keio, Osaka, Ritsumeikan, Sophia and Hitotsubashi universities and is world renowned for its research and education in Asian Studies.