Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito while on an official visit to Brazil in 2008.
According to the Bangkok Post:
Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito on Friday honored a 17th-century samurai who established the first ties between his country and Spain 400 years ago, in a small town where to this day hundreds of local Spaniards bear the name “Japon”.
Naruhito, the 53-year-old son and heir of Emperor Akihito, planted a cherry tree next to a statue where the samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga stands immortalised, sword on hip, in a bronze statue overlooking the green water of the Guadalquivir River.
To read the full article in the Bangkok Post, please click here.
Painting of Japanese samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga while visiting Rome in 1615. While visiting Spain in 1613, he was baptized Roman Catholic.
