Ishinomaki--Britain's Prince William on Sunday made a pilgrimage to port communities devastated by a huge tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, receiving origami paper cranes from survivors before the fourth anniversary of the disaster.
Winding up his first trip to the country, the second-in-line to the British throne visited the northeastern city of Ishinomaki, one of the areas hardest hit by the gigantic waves which killed around 19,000 people.
William, 32, placed a bouquet at a hilltop shrine and quietly bowed his head in the direction of a now-vacant area where hundreds of people lived before their houses were swept away on March 11, 2011.
Following the prayer, local children presented him with red paper cranes -- a symbol of good luck in Japan -- which had been made by tsunami survivors still living in temporary houses.
A beaming William, in a navy-blue blazer, offered an "arigato gozaimasu" ("thank you very much") in response -- the latest of a number of Japanese phrases he has attempted during his four-day stay.
"When we handed him the cranes, he told us that he thinks his son (George) will be pleased if he takes them back as souvenir," a young girl told national broadcaster NHK.
"I will remember this day forever," she added.
William also visited a tsunami museum in central Ishinomaki, which has on display handwritten editions of the Ishinomaki Hibi Shimbun, a newspaper whose printing presses were destroyed by the waves, and whose staff battled the odds to deliver the news.
The then-chief editor guided William around the museum, which was also engulfed by the tsunami, and explained the difficulties the paper faced in gathering news and distributing copies after the catastrophe.
Later in the day, the prince saw a temporary shopping venue in Onagawa east of Ishinomaki, the final stop on his four-day tour.
Against the backdrop of the prefabricated shops, he was welcomed with a lion dance, a traditional performance in which actors wear a lacquered wooden head and cloth dyed green with white decorations.
A smiling William proved he was game by pretending to put his head in the lion's mouth.
"Thanks to the prince's visit, we can let the world know that our region is still affected by the tsunami," said Hikaru Sato, a local high school student.
AFP
