Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Anany, on behalf of the President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi, attended the Japanese’s Emperor Naruhito's enthronement ceremony held on Tuesday at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, where he conveyed him the congratulations of Egyptian president on this occasion.
The ceremony was attended by 423 foreign dignitaries representing 191 countries and international organizations, as well as nearly 1600 senior Japanese officials.
The Minister also attended the court banquet hosted by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako for delegations participating in the enthronement ceremony.
During his visit to Japan, El-Anany held meetings with a number of Japanese officials and academics at the Egyptian Embassy headquarters in Tokyo, headed by the chairman of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the head of the Japan Foundation for Culture and Literature, Goi Peace, as well as the well-known Japanese Egyptologist Sakuji Yoshimura, who has contributed to a large number of archaeological discoveries in Egypt since 1966.
During his meetings, El-Anany highlighted the recent archaeological discoveries in many sites in Egypt, especially Al-Assasif cache, which includes 30 closed and colored coffins for priests.
He also reviewed the construction progress of the Grand Egyptian Museum GEM in cooperation with the JICA.
Egyptian Ambassador to Tokyo Ayman Kamel said that the participation of Antiquities minister in the enthronement of the Japanese Emperor comes within the framework of the growing cooperation relations between the two countries during the current year, which witnessed President Sisi’s successive visits to Japan in June and August to participate in the G20 and TICAD summits.
During his stay at the Japanese capital, Dr. El-Anany held several press and televised interviews with a number of Japanese officials to shed light on recent museums and archaeological discoveries in Egypt and to identify the most promising sites that attract the interest of Japanese society.
El-Anany will also give a lecture at Waseda University on Thursday on the latest archaeological discoveries in Egypt, in addition to meeting with a number of members of the new Japan Egyptology Council (JEC), which was launched in November 2018 as the first Council of its kind to include Egyptologists from various Japanese universities.
According to Telegraph, Naruhito ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne in May, becoming the 126th Emperor of Japan and ushering in the new Reiwa era. His father, former Emperor Akihito abdicated a day earlier, becoming the country’s first monarch to step down in two centuries.
Noteworthy, the previous rite held in November 1990 for Emperor Akihito followed the example of the enthronement ceremony of his father, Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa.
It was based on “Tokyokurei,” a 1909 order on the formalities of the ceremony, although the directive was abolished after World War II.
Contributed by Hassanain Tayea
Follow the latest news on Google News
