Japanese Emperor to visit Krakow and Warsaw as part of ceremonial visit

The Japanese imperial couple began a five-day official visit to Poland yesterday that aides said would pay tribute to the nation's transition to democracy. Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko were formally welcomed by President Aleksander Kwas niewski at Warsaw's presidential palace before they laid wreaths at the nearby tomb of the unknown soldier. The 69-year-old monarch's program is mostly ceremonial, but he will have a chance to meet the public during walkabouts planned in Warsaw and Krakow. Akihito will also meet Lech Walesa, the former leader of the Solidarity free trade union which brought down communism in the peaceful revolution of 1989, and who as the country's first post-communist president visited Japan in 1994. "We, the Japanese, have great respect for Poland's efforts to achieve independence. We admire and respect the past and present achievements of Poland after 1989," the emperor's spokesman, Tatsuo Arima, told reporters. (Reuters)