New Delhi, November 30
Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived this evening on a landmark week-long trip to India, some 53 years after they visited this country as Crown Prince and Princess.

Deviating from protocol, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur received the royal couple on their arrival at the Delhi airport.

With India pulling out all the stops to make the visit a grand success, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will be the Minister-in-Waiting for the Japanese Emperor and the Empress. Both countries consider the imperial visit to be a major event capable of giving further impetus to their growing partnership.

The fact that the Japanese imperial dignitaries now rarely make international trips due to their health further heightens the significance of their sojourn.

The visit is highly symbolic of potential future defence and civil nuclear cooperation. The royal couple will hold talks with a galaxy of Indian leaders, including President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Manmohan Singh and Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and participate in a number of events during their stay in New Delhi.

They will leave for Chennai on Wednesday. New Delhi’s invitation to the Japanese royal couple was extended almost a decade ago but the decision on the trip was taken a few months back after India-friendly Shinzo Abe took over as Japanese PM.

Japan’s imperial system is a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch “reigns but does not govern”.

Under the Constitution, the Emperor is “the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people” and “shall not have powers related to government”.