Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko on Thursday visited Raj Bhavan, where a lunch was hosted in their honour. The Japanese royal couple was received by Governor K Rosaiah and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
The royal couple visited the Guindy National Park around 9 am before they proceeded to Raj Bhavan. The royals also visited the Spastics Society of Tamil Nadu at Taramani in the afternoon and interacted with differently-abled children.
Meanwhile, the movement of the Japanese royals threw traffic out of gear in parts of the city as police cleared several roads for free passage of the convoy.
The maximum effect was felt on Sardar Patel Road during the morning peak hours bringing traffic to a grinding halt for over 30 minutes. Chaos was witnessed on Madhya Kailash, Adyar, Guindy and Old Mahabalipuram Road as motorists were made to wait until the convoy passed the respective areas. The cascading effect could be felt even in Nandanam, Chetpet, Nungambakkam, T Nagar.
A senior police official said they had to block the traffic considering the safety of the State guests. On Wednesday, the couple had visited Kalakshetra Foundation, after arriving in the city in the afternoon. Their visit to India is to end on Friday.
Infra issues
Japanese companies have invested heavily in the State, setting up plants in and around the city, but almost all of them still have issues with the ‘inferior’ power and water infrastructure here, according to the Emperor of Japan’s Press Secretary Sakutaro Tanino. Speaking a few hours before the Japanese Royals were set to wrap up their Indian visit, Tanino said, “There is a lot of warmth and hospitality here and Japanese businessmen say that they are happy with the skilled labour and relative peace that prevails in Chennai. But the only point for improvement is the inferior infrastructure. Power, water and so on are lacking and many of our businessmen constantly talk about this, every time we meet them.”
When asked if these issues were put before Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa when they met her over lunch at Raj Bhavan, he said that “power issues and other developmental topics were touched upon but there was no serious conversation,” as the Emperor does not like talking about politics, he said. “That will be discussed when the Japanese Prime Minister makes his next visit. It will be more relevant then,” he added. Reflecting on the time spent with the CM, a lady whose “name was well known amongst the Japanese”, he added that the royal couple had spoken to her at length about culture, music, arts, dance and even South Indian recipes.
Reiterating that “business relations alone cannot improve the ties between countries”, he urged Indian students, researchers and mediapersons to come to Japan. “We have somewhat strained ties with China, but there are still close to 90,000 Chinese students studying in Japan, compared to 573 students from India,” he said.