Japan's Crown Prince to visit Thailand early next week

BANGKOK, June 22 (TNA) - Japanese Ambassador to Thailand Seiji Kojima confirmed on Friday that Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito will pay a three-day official visit to Thailand from June 25-27 at the invitation of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Upon his arrival in Bangkok next Monday, the 53-year-old Japanese Crown Prince will be officially welcomed at Bangkok's Government House, where he will also grant an audience to the Thai prime minister. According to the Japanese top envoy, the visiting Japanese Crown Prince will then be granted an audience with Their Majesties King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit at the Chakri Throne Hall inside the Grand Palace in the heart of the Thai capital Monday evening. The Japanese ambassador acknowledged that the Japanese Crown Prince's upcoming visit to Thailand, his first official trip to the Thai Kingdom and his first stop on his Southeast Asian tour which will also include neighbouring Cambodia and Laos, also marks the 126th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Thailand and Japan although the long-standing relations between the two nations could even be traced back to Thailand's Ayutthaya period.(TNA)