Crown Prince Frederik's Official Visit to Japan: June 12-16, 2011

[dazzling]

Below is the official statement given for the visit. Hopefully as the visit comes closer we will get a more detailed program.

Visit to Japan
Sunday 12th June 2011 - Thursday 16th June 2011
HRH Crown Prince visits Japan in the 13th-16th June

His Royal Highness Crown Prince visits Japan on 13th-16th June 2011

Crown Prince visits Japan to show its sympathy and support for the Japanese people after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster on 11 March 2011.

During the stay will Dauphin particular visit the city of Higashi-Matsushima in northern Japan. The city is one of the hardest hit by the disaster. During the visit there will be a special focus on homeless and orphaned children in the city, and Crown Prince will inspect the facilities for children since the earthquake have been restored with support from Danish companies. The Crown Prince will present a series of donations, as well as meet with needy families, rescue workers and volunteers in the area.

On 15 June Crown Prince participant in a seminar on energy solutions for Japan, and he will visit the selected companies in Yokohama and Kawasaki.

Source: http://kongehuset.dk

[Muhler]

Frederik i Japan uden Mary og børnene - Royale - BT.dk
Frederik is now in Japan.

This is an account from BT about the initial part of Frederik's visit to Japan, including a picture.
He arrived in Japan early Monday morning.
First item on the agenda was a lunch at the Danish embassy.
Frederik then met the Japanese Crown Prince in their residence and stayed there for half an hour. Frederik has met Crown Prince a number of times before. There is no mentioning of the Japanese Crown Princess having met Frederik on this occasion.
Later he had dinner with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.
Frederik will stay in Japan until thursday, where he among other things will visit a nursery and a school up north where the tsunami struck.
We can expect a good coverage as the article says that quite a lot of Danish press are following Frederik on this trip.

[marfre]

Thanks Muhler.
I hope we do get good coverage of Frederik's visit.

I read in another article (DR) that 20 children will be invited to holiday in Denmark, I think the Mayor of Fredensborg is involved, he is in the group travelling with Frederik.

[Sternchen]

Why is this thread here and not in the Danish Royal Family-Area? As his other official visit threads are in the DRF-Area, this doesn't seem to make any sense to me?

[JessRulz]

Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito (L) greets Danish Crown Prince Frederik at the entrance of his Togu Palace in Tokyo June 13, 2011. Crown Prince Frederik arrived the place June 13 for a four-day visit including visiting tsunami devastated cities in Miyagi prefecture.

Two pictures from Daylife

[Lumutqueen]

Originally Posted by Sternchen

Why is this thread here and not in the Danish Royal Family-Area? As his other official visit threads are in the DRF-Area, this doesn't seem to make any sense to me?

Possible because this is a visit to a country which has it's own thread in the forum.

[Kasumi]

The Imperial couple hosted a dinner for the Crown Prince of Denmark at the residential building in the Imperial Palace on June 13th, 2011.
Daylife gallery

HM the Empress looks fantastic!

[Lumutqueen]

She looks beautiful, Frederik must have felt a little awkward at one point.

[Muhler]

Well, the first clip are showing on the DK media.

Here from TV2: http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/article.php/id-40728840:kronprins-frederik-besøger-japan.html

If you have patience enough to wait through the insane 30 second commercial first, then you will see a brief clip of Frederik being recieved by Crown Prince Naruhito.
The Danish press are of course focusing on Frederik and I'm afraid we are going to see very little of the Imperial Family from those sources.
Frederik will start his visit to the areas afflicted by the tsunami tomorrow, Tuesday. Namely the devastated city of Higashi-Matsushima.

Jyllands Posten has an interesting article about Japanese children from the areas struck by the tsunami who will go to DK. Japanske tsunami-børn på ferie i Danmark

As Marfre pointed out, 20 children will go on holiday to Northern Zealand, basically to get away from it all for a period. Here they will be the guests of Fredensborg municipality for a week.
They will be billeted with host families and take part in various but calm activities.
Going at full speed to all sorts of activities may not be beneficial for the children, considering the ordeals they have been through. Calm and rest and picnics under the trees is considered better, says psycologist Rikke Yde Tordrup.
The mayor and deputy mayor of Fredensborg are accompanying Frederik, and they will present their invitation in the city of Higashi Matsushima.
The Japanese embassy will pay for the plane tickets, Fredensborg will pay for the stay.

- Just one week? That ain't much.
It's far from the first time DK has invited children from the area near Chernobyl or from poor areas in Eastern Europe for a holiday of a number of weeks. And it's great to see the children blossom and cheer up and throughly enjoy their little break, but I always feel slightly depressed at the same time. They are going back again....

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by Lumutqueen

Possible because this is a visit to a country which has it's own thread in the forum.

Yeah, but there is a little conflict of interest going on here. Because the main sources covering this visit are probably going to be Danish and they will not focus that much on the Imperial Family.
Imagine this was William and Kate instead of Frederik. Then the coverage of their visit should be posted here, in the Japanese forum and not the British forum?

[JessRulz]

Yes, it would go in the Japanese forum.

The TRF rule states:

I started a thread in one of the forums because the King of that country is making a state visit to another country and there wasn't a thread for it. My thread was deleted. Can't we talk about state visits?

When royals make state or official visits to other monarchies, the thread is started in the forum for the host country, not the forum for the visiting country. The only state-visit threads in the visiting-country forums are those for visits to republics or for visits to multiple countries.

Any further questions regarding this are to be directed to the moderating team, not posted in thread.

JessRulz
TRF Admin

[lancchick]

Originally Posted by Muhler

Well, the first clip are showing on the DK media.

Here from TV2: http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/article.php/id-40728840:kronprins-frederik-besøger-japan.html

A few videos complied on YouTube by DRFGarden: YouTube - ‪Crown Prince Frederik visits Japan (2011)‬‏

[Muhler]

Thanks Lancchick That makes it a lot easier.

BT continues it's coverage of Frederik's visit to Japan. Japanske børn jublede over Frederik - Royale - BT.dk

Frederik went to the city of Higashi Matsushima and visited a combined nursery and kindergarden, where the children cheered the Crown Prince of Sweden, as Frederik was presented as by a teacher.
She was quickly corrected by someone from the Danish embassy.
That is after all trivial to the fact that a number of the children have lost one or both parents.
All in this particlular institution were evacuated in time when the tsunami came, the building however was destroyed and has since been rebuild from funds donated by Danish commerce.
Other Danish export companies donated toys to the children which were presented by Frederik. The children responded with: "Mange tak = thank you very much".
Frederik explained that he has four children himself and added: "I know all this toy well, because my own children play with it too".
He also took pictures of the children, presumably for the benefit of Mary (and QMII, I believe).
Before leaving he said: "I will tell all in Denmark about how well behaved you are. - And then I'll tell all how brave you are".
Unsurprisingly the article states that Frederik felt at ease and had a good rapport with the children.

Before visiting the children, Frederik had earlier that day visited an elderly couple who were separated by the tsunami but reunited by the army.

ADDED: Another BT article about Frederik on the way to visit Higashi Matsushima. http://www.bt.dk/royale/kronprinsen-...strofe-omraade
60% of that town was destroyed and 1.500 were killed by the tsunami.
Frederik is accompanied by the Danish ambassador, Franz-Michael Skjold Mellbin, and some from Danish commerce.
After having visited the nursery/kindergarden Frederik will eat luch at a school and play soccer with some of the children. In the afternoon he will sail around some of the Matsushima islands.

- The purpose of the visit is only partly to show sympathy, there is a more practical agenda as well, which has been mentioned in the TV news and articles.
It was not only the infra struckture which was devastated or at least severely hit by the tsunami. But the workforce has been affected as well and at best scattered along with many of the local businesses. The tourism which was important in this area has dropped by 60 %. In short: The local economy is down.
As such it's important to attract foreign investors as well as foreign contractors to supply or help rebuilding the area again. As things are no doubt still pretty rudimentary and somewhat confused, it helps to have a high profile "door-opener", like Frederik in the lead. Due to his status he (and the delegation) will also get more and more serious attention from local officials, business leaders, politicians, who have plenty of other things on their minds as it is.
Another matter is tourism. If Frederik can go to this area, then it's very probably pretty safe to go there as a tourist as well. The likelyhood of geiger counters exploding when you return home is no doubt non-existant....

[marfre]

Thanks for the links.

Daylife has added more photos of Frederik, a couple playing soccer with the children. Another photo shows that 2,430 pair of shoes were donated by the Danes or Danish business, Frederik handed the Mayor of Higashimatsushima a certificate showing this.
Nice to see the coverage for this visit.

[marfre]

Perhaps I should have said playing football not soccer.

Muhler, thanks for your translation much appreciated.

[Muhler]

More coverage of Frederik from BT: Frederik klar til at 'adoptere' - Royale - BT.dk
Note that "se stort billede" is a link to a high res picture.

This time about Frederik's impressions after he met the children.
He said: "It's a very big experience to be here. - Children give so much. No matter what hardships they have been through. They are generally happy and collect good experiences". (*)

The mayor of Higashi Matsushima was, as you know, presented with an invitation for 20 children to come and stay for a week in Fredensborg municipality. Frederik told the mayor that he has lived there as well and that Fredensborg is a lovely green place, - which it is.
Later he told the Danish press that he could have considered having a child as a guest as well: "If I still lived permanently in the area, I would have liked to (have a child as guest). We could well accommodate a fifth child in the flock of children for a period".

(*) Children are amazing survivors.

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by marfre

Perhaps I should have said playing football not soccer.

Muhler, thanks for your translation much appreciated.

You are welcome, Marfre

[Muhler]

And the coverage continues. This time from TV2, with two clips of Frederik in the kindergarten, and a second with Frederik meeting some of the locals: Kronprins gav gaver til japanske brn - TV 2 Nyhederne

The TV2 reporter, Winnie Laursen, is following Frederik on this visit and she noticed: "He moves right from the Imperial Palace and visiting the mayor under somewhat formal conditions to being on the same level as the children".

She noticed that Frederik appeared to be popular among the children, and with the cynicism looming in the back of the mind of reporters she said: "It may well be that it was rehersed/acting/pretending, if so it was very good/convincing acting/pretence".

She added: "The children waved flags and had learned how to say mange tak and tusind tak = thank you very much and the Crown Prince was in his right element".

There will be more coverage in the 19.00 news on TV2 tonight, including Frederik playing soccer, (okay, football ).

ADDED: Jyllands Posten is also covering the visit: http://jp.dk/blitz/kongelige/article2461399.ece
With a couple of funny pics of Frederik.

- Anything in the local media?

[Muhler]

A gallery from BT: Fjolle-Frederik - med en lille hat på | www.bt.dk

Well.... I'm...speechless.
Words....fail me.
I'm...at loss for words.
I didn't see that one coming!

[Kasumi]

Crown Prince of Denmark in Higashimatsushima city (pref. Miyagi) on June 14th, 2011.

daylife gallery