Photo/Illutration Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako offer flowers at the Cenotaph for the Victims of the Atomic Bomb at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on June 19. (Jun Ueda)

HIROSHIMA—Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako laid white flowers and paid their respects on June 19 at the Cenotaph for the Victims of the Atomic Bomb at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park here.

The cenotaph houses the list of the dead, which lists 344,306 victims of the bomb as of Aug. 6, 2024.

The imperial couple are visiting Hiroshima Prefecture on June 19 and 20 to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The visit marked Naruhito's eighth to the cenotaph since 1981. This visit to Hiroshima was the first since he ascended the throne in 2019. 

This is part of the imperial couple’s journey to commemorate the war dead and pass on memories of the deceased 80 years after the war's end.

Naruhito and Masako visited Iwoto island, formerly known as Iwojima, in April, and Okinawa Prefecture in early June, for the same purpose.

Following Hiroshima, the couple is expected to visit Nagasaki Prefecture in September as part of their journey.

The couple flew from Haneda Airport to Hiroshima on a chartered plane on the morning of June 19.

Their first-day schedule included a visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and other facilities to meet with atomic bomb survivors.

On June 20, they are scheduled to visit Asaminami Ward in the city of Hiroshima, the site of the 2014 landslide disaster that killed 77 people, to inspect a sand and stone dam to prevent mudslides.

The couple will also tour the city’s museum that passes down lessons from the torrential rain disaster.

They are also scheduled to meet with residents at one of four nursing homes in Hiroshima dedicated to hibakusha.

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