Japanese emperor to reconnect with the River Thames in state visit meant to bolster ties with UK

By DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Before Emperor Naruhito of Japan attends a banquet hosted by King Charles III, lays a wreath at Westminster Abbey or tours one of Britain’s premier biomedical research institutes, he will kick off his trip to the U.K. by visiting a site that has special meaning for him: The Thames Barrier. While the retractable flood control gates on the River Thames don’t top most lists of must-see tourist sights, the emperor has a special fondness for the waterway that is the throbbing heart of London. That link was forged 40 years ago when Naruhito studied 18th-century commerce on the Thames as a graduate student at the University of Oxford.