Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko will visit Turkey in early December, the Japanese government said, as the two countries mark this year the 100th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations.
The prince, the younger brother of Emperor Naruhito, and his wife will arrive Dec 3 in the capital Ankara where they will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Japanese nationals residing in Turkey on Dec 4, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
The couple will fly to Istanbul the following day to attend a commemoration ceremony. They will return home on Dec 8.
In Istanbul, the prince and princess will also visit a naval museum with exhibits about the Ottoman warship Ertugrul, which sank off Japan's Pacific coast in 1890 due to a typhoon.
Some of the crew were rescued by local people in what is now the town of Kushimoto in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan. The incident is considered the starting point of the friendship between Turkey, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire, and Japan.
