Photo/Illutration Emperor Naruhito with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Imperial Palace on June 18 (Pool)

Emperor Naruhito shared his thoughts on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, as well as Hiroshima, with the visiting German president ahead of his trip to the city.

“I think it is very important to face up to the past and pass down (the remembrance) to future generations,” Naruhito told Frank-Walter Steinmeier during a meeting at the Imperial Palace on June 18.

Naruhito is visiting Hiroshima on June 19-20 with Empress Masako, his first trip to the city targeted by the atomic bomb since ascending the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019.

According to the Imperial Household Agency, Naruhito spoke about a series of trips he is making to mourn for war victims around the nation 80 years after the end of World War II.

Naruhito and Masako traveled to Okinawa earlier this month and to Iwojima, now officially called Iwoto island, in April, the sites of two of the fiercest ground battles during the conflict.

The imperial couple is also expected to visit Nagasaki in September.

Naruhito told Steinmeier that during those trips he makes it a rule to speak with “storytellers” who are handing down accounts of the war. This includes young people, with Naruhito emphasizing the importance of relaying memories of the war to future generations.

A two-time foreign minister, Steinmeier told the emperor that his past trips to Hiroshima and Nagasaki have driven home the catastrophic consequences of the atomic bombings.

He said it is extremely regrettable that the world has not necessarily made progress toward nuclear disarmament.

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