Japan-Viet Nam Relations

Their Majesties’ interests encompass broad areas of learning and culture. They attend annual award ceremonies of the Japan Academy and the Japan Academy of Arts. They often receive at the Imperial Palace scholars and artists including the members of the Academies as well as the recipients of the Order of Culture. They also attend many ceremonies for the awarding of scientific prizes, as well as international scientific conferences held in Japan.

Their Majesties compose waka (a classical form of poetry which can be traced back to the 8th century Manyo-shu Anthology), an age-old tradition in the Imperial Family. Their Majesties first published Tomoshibi(Light), a collection of Their waka when They were Crown Prince and Crown Princess in 1986, and in response to a strong request from the people concerned, Se-oto (Sound of a Stream), a collection of the Empress’s waka of more recent years, was published in 1997. In January, the Emperor hosts the traditional New Year’s Poetry Reading at the Imperial Palace. In this ceremony, ten waka chosen from over 20,000 composed and submitted by the public are chanted in the traditional way, together with waka composed by Their Majesties and other members of the Imperial Family. It was Sister Marie Philomène de los Reyes, a Filipina sister of the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres and Her Majesty’s long-time friend, who introduced the New Year Poetry Reading ceremony to the world by publishing a book describing the ceremony in English for the first time, along with translations of some of the poems represented. Sister Marie Philomène was also a co-editor of the English translation of Tomoshibi(Light), published on the occasion of His Majesty’s Enthronement.