Japan’s Crown Prince Akishino Visits Earthquake-Hit Ishikawa Pref. Town; Encourages Farmers Affected by Disaster

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:38 JST, April 19, 2024

ANAMIZU, Ishikawa — Crown Prince Akishino met with farmers affected by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake during a day trip to Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Thursday.

It was the second time for the crown prince to meet with Noto quake victims after meeting those hospitalized in Kanazawa in February.

The crown prince flew to the prefecture and then traveled by car to a farm owned by Tadao Maeda, 69, in Anamizu. He arrived at about 11:20 a.m. and spoke with Maeda and Yoshimasa Kawahara, 73, a rice farmer from Wajima in the prefecture, and their families, at the farm’s rest area.

Maeda told the crown prince that his vegetable seedlings were damaged because of the power outage caused by the quake, and his father-in-law in Wajima died after being trapped under a collapsed house. Upon hearing this, the crown prince reportedly told him, “That must have been tough.”

When Kawahara told him that the roads around his house had cracks and were twisted, the crown prince caringly said to him, “Even going out must have been difficult for you.”

“[The crown prince] gave us moral support and motivation to keep doing our jobs,” Maeda said.