Japanese emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko have arrived at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for a banquet to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship Foundation.

The scholarship was established in 1959 to commemorate the wedding of then-Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko. The scholarship is awarded annually to two Japanese graduate students in Japan for study at the University of Hawaiçi at Mänoa and to two American graduate students from UH Mänoa for study in Japan.
About 1,500 people, including 130 current and former scholarship recipients are attending the event.
The Ralph Chikato Honda Award, given to one Japanese and one American scholar who are achieving excellence in their fields and contributing toward U.S.-Japan relations, was to be given to Carl Beckeer, a professor at Kyoto University’s Kokoro Research Center and a research affiliate in the Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, and Ritsuko Kikusawa, associate professor of anthropology at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka and the Graduate University of Advanced Studies in Kanagawa.
Retired UH professor and scholarship foundation trustee Sharon Minichiello was to receive the CPASF Distinguished Service Award.
The emperor and empress were to personally meet with the scholars immediately after the banquet.
Earlier today Akihito and Michiko paid tribute to America’s fallen at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific amid the boom of canon fire and increasingly heavy showers.
“The rain was the only thing not under our control,” quipped Punchbowl cemetery director Gene Castagnetti.
The emperor and empress arrived in Honolulu yesterday after an 11-day tour of Canada. They had lunch today with Gov. Linda Lingle at Washington Place.
The brief ceremony marked the couple’s second visit to Punchbowl (Püowaina). They also visited the historic cemetery during their last stop in Honolulu in 1994.
More than 50,000 service men and women are interred at the cemetery, roughly 13,000 who died in World War II.
The couple arrived just after 10 a.m. to a three-cannon salute that roused dozens of birds from the long corridor of Chinese banyan trees leading to the monument.
The emperor and empress were greeted by Lingle, Adm. Timothy Keating of the U.S. Pacific Command, and Castagnetti, as well as Marines from Headquarters Battalion and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific.
The emperor and empress stood solemnly for “Kimigayo” (the Japanese national anthem) and the “Star Spangled Banner,” ignoring a sudden downpour while umbrellas were summoned.
“When it started raining, it was absolutely beautiful,” said Cpl. Westley Miller of the Headquarters Battalion. “That moment just reminded me what all of this is about — the sacrifices that these people here made.”
“When I joined the Marines four years ago, I thought I’d see combat but there is also a lot of beauty in the world, and this reminded me of that,” he said.
Later, with Castagnetti and his wife holding the umbrellas, the couple presented a chrysanthemum wreath to honor those interred at the cemetery.
The rain worsened as the ceremony closed with a 21-gun salute, a joint fly-over by U.S. Navy and Japan Self-Defense Forces aircraft, and the playing of “Taps.”
“This was an honor for Hawaiçi, not just for the national cemetery,” said Castagnetti. “I’m just humbled to be a part of this historic occasion.
“Having the oldest hereditary monarchy join us for the second time is an honor and it shows that they’re comfortable at this venue,” he said.
For Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaiçi president and director Lenny Yajima Andrew, attending yesterday’s wreath-laying ceremony was just the latest in a series of pinch-me moments.
Yajima Andrew, a former Cherry Blossom Festival queen, first met Empress Michiko in 1986 at a private reception in conjunction with the 34th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival, then again when the royal couple visited Hawaiçi in 1994. She renewed the acquaintance on Tuesday when she attended Akihito and Michiko’s appearance at Kapiçolani Park.
In addition to the Punchbowl ceremony, Yajima Andrew also attended last night’s Prince Akihito Scholarship Foundation dinner.
“I feel so lucky,” Yajima Andrew said. “I’m very impressed with them. They really seem to be for the people.”