Statement About the Meeting With Emperor Hirohito of Japan

IT IS a very special honor for me--on behalf of the American people--to extend our warmest welcome to Your Majesties as you arrive in our country.

We understand that on your departure from Tokyo you received a magnificent farewell tribute from the people of Japan. As you make the first stop on this momentous journey, the people of the United States want to add their voices to that tribute--along with our best wishes for your further travels.

It was exactly 50 years ago this year, in 1921, that Your Majesty became the first Crown Prince in the long history of Japan to travel in a foreign country. Now, at this moment, just one-half century later, you become the first Japanese reigning monarch to step on foreign soil.

This journey also has great contemporary significance. For it helps to symbolize Japan's growing position in world affairs. This is true, of course, in the economic sphere, where Japan has developed one of the world's fastest growing and most dynamic economies. It is true in the political sphere, where Japan has been increasingly active in international councils which are helping to shape the future of Asia--and of our entire planet. And it is true, also, in the cultural sphere, where Japanese art and literature and music and science have won growing acclaim throughout the world.

When the Japanese novelist Kawabata received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1968, the citation praised him for building "a spiritual bridge spanning between East and West." Those same words can be used to describe Japan's accomplishments in many other fields. For in a wide variety of ways, the Japanese people have been helping to bring the East and the West into closer communication. Your Majesties' journey represents another significant step in that important process.

Our visit this evening also symbolizes the friendship between Japan and the United States.

We meet this evening in a part of the United States which is approximately the same distance from Tokyo as it is from our own capital in Washington, D.C. This fact reminds us that our two countries are not only friends but neighbors as well, separated by an ocean which grows smaller every day.

Finally, let me speak of this meeting in personal terms. For I am most grateful for this opportunity to reciprocate in some measure the gracious hospitality I received during my visit to Japan as Vice President in 1953. I was honored when that visit was accorded the status of a state visit-and I was particularly honored when I was granted the first audience that Your Majesty granted to any state visitor in the postwar period. I have looked forward to the day when I could welcome Your Majesties in this country, and I am pleased that that day has now arrived.

A year ago, the great exposition at Osaka caught the imagination of the entire world. The theme of that exposition was this: "Progress and Harmony for All Mankind."

Those words express the hope which unites our peoples--and people everywhere. I know your journey will provide an eloquent expression of that hope. As you continue that journey, our best wishes will go with you.