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DPS braces for imperial couple’s visit
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Posted on Jun 21 2005
Federal and local law enforcement agencies are bracing up for Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko’s two-day visit to Saipan beginning Monday next week, pooling their manpower to ensure the safety of the Japanese imperial couple.
Department of Public Safety spokesman Eric David said about 300 personnel would participate in security operations being spearheaded by police commissioner Santiago Tudela.
“We are preparing for the visit of the emperor of Japan. We are prepared,” David said.
While details of the preparations are being kept confidential, the agencies involved in providing security to the imperial couple not only include DPS personnel, but also those from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Attorney General’s Investigative Unit, and the Customs and Immigration divisions.
David said Marpi would be closed to the public on Monday at 7pm until Tuesday, 11am.
The imperial couple will visit the Monument of the War Dead in the Mid-Pacific in Marpi. They will also stop by the Banzai Cliff and the Suicide Cliff.
An official itinerary released earlier by Japan’s Imperial Household Agency stated that the couple would also visit the Marianas Memorial, which honors the Chamorro and Carolinian populations who died during the Battle of Saipan. The couple will then visit the American World War II Memorial and Court of Honor at the American Memorial Park in Garapan.
The agency said the couple would arrive on Saipan on Monday afternoon from Tokyo’s Haneda airport. They will spend a night at the Hotel Nikko Saipan.
The couple also plans to visit Saipan’s Man’amko Center and speak to the elderly, many of whom witnessed the Battle of Saipan during World War II. Saipan used to be a Japanese territory before American troops took over the island during the war.
