ISTANBUL

Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and their daughter Princess Akito met atomic bomb survivors at a nursing care facility in Nagasaki on Saturday.

Upon their arrival at the facility at about 10.30 am local time (0130GMT), the Imperial family met residents in their 80s and 90s at the facility’s hall. They bent over to make eye contact with the seated residents and listened attentively to them, The Japan News reported.

The family arrived in the city on Friday for a three-day visit. The visit is the royal couple's first to the city since the emperor acceded to the throne in 2019, and the 23-year-old princess's first-ever.

On Friday, they offered flowers at a memorial in Nagasaki Peace Park, and also met survivors aged 81 to 101 at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.

The US dropped the plutonium bomb, "Fat Man," onto the port city of Nagasaki at 11.02 am local time (0202GMT) on Aug. 9, 1945, after using the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima days earlier. The bomb killed around 70,000 people in Nagasaki.

Japan formally surrendered Aug. 15, 1945, marking the end of World War II.

On Sunday, the emperor and empress will attend the opening ceremony of the National Cultural Festival and the National Arts and Culture Festival for Persons with Disabilities.