Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Friday visited the Oxford University colleges where they studied decades ago, before wrapping up their trip to Britain and leaving for home.
Recalling his days as a student at Oxford around 40 years ago, the emperor expressed hope that young people in Japan can also experience studying abroad and learning from the world.
The empress toured the university's Balliol College, where she studied international relations as a Foreign Ministry official from 1988 to 1990. She was accompanied on the visit by her teacher at the time, emeritus professor Adam Roberts, among others.
After the luncheon, she was awarded an honorary degree during a ceremony that the royal couple attended in red gowns and black hats.
The couple then moved to the nearby Merton College, where the emperor had researched the history of river transport on the Thames. He studied at the college from 1983 to 1985, when his grandfather, Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, was on the Japanese throne.
The emperor and empress, who married in 1993, also visited locations the emperor had frequented in his student days such as the Bodleian Library as well as a bookstore, before taking off from the British air force's Brize Norton base later Friday.
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