OXFORD (Britain): Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Friday revisited the University of Oxford, where they had studied, before leaving for their country later in the day after an official visit to Britain.

The Imperial couple arrived at the university’s Balliol College around 11:40 a.m. After being welcomed by Christopher Patten, the university’s chancellor, they walked around the college. The Empress was reunited with her former supervisor and dormitory manager there.

The Emperor studied at Merton College from June 1983 to October 1985. He spent time with other students in his dormitory and worked on his research on the history of water transportation on the Thames in the 18th century.

The Empress studied international relations at Balliol College from 1988 to 1990, when she was an official of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Before coming to Britain, the Emperor told a press conference at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on June 19, “I am looking forward to visiting Oxford with Masako for the first time and walking around the city.”

The visit to the university is the first for the Emperor since 2001, when he was Crown Prince, and the first for the Empress since she studied there.

The Emperor has written in his book that the time he spent in the European country was the most enjoyable period of his life.

Hajime Takata, 65, a former student at the university and now a member of the Bank of Japan’s Policy Board, met the Emperor at a pub in Britain in February 1985.

Takata recalled conversations with the Emperor, quoting him as saying at the time that he was having a hard time collecting documents for his research. “He was patiently researching, referring properly to original sources,” Takata said. They also enjoyed talking about Japanese celebrities, he revealed.

Hiroyuki Yamaki, 76, a former Jiji Press correspondent in London, said the university is a “place full of flashes of the Emperor’s younger days.”

The Emperor had various experiences there, including being denied entry to a disco because he was wearing jeans, and his dormitory room had posters of Japanese singer Yoshie Kashiwabara and US actress Brooke Shields, according to Yamaki.

This time, the Emperor and Empress visited the country as state guests. After completing their itinerary, they will depart on a Japanese government plane from the Royal Air Force’s Brize Norton base on Friday night and arrive at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Saturday evening local time.

JIJI Press