Bulgaria Former Tsar Saxe-Coburg Meets with Japan Prince Akishino

Bulgaria's former Tsar and former PM Simeon Saxe-Coburg met Saturday in Sofia with Japan's Prince Akishino.

The meeting between the representatives of the Bulgarian and the Japanese royal families took place in the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Sofia.

Prince Akishino, the second son of Japanese Emperor Akishino, and his wife Princess Kiko arrived on a three-day visit to Bulgaria on May 13 as part of their two-week tour of Europe.

In his meeting with Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko, Simeon Saxe-Coburg was accompanied by his wife Margarita Gomez-Acebo y Cejuela.

In his capacity of Bulgarian Prime Minister, Saxe-Coburg visited Tokyo in December 2004 where he was welcomed by Prince Akishino's father, Emperor Akihito.

Saxe-Coburg's meeting with Akihito will be remembered by a precedent in the Japanese state protocol as the former Bulgarian Tsar and PM was the first foreign Prime Minister invited to a personal meeting and a tea ceremony with the Emperor and Empress of Japan after the official state meeting took place.

On Friday, Prince Akishino opened a Museum of Thracian Art in the village of Aleksandrovo in Southeast Bulgaria whose construction was funded by the Japanese government.