TOKYO — Japan’s first lady has visited Pearl Harbor for the first time to pay tribute to the victims of the Japanese attack 75 years ago.
Akie Abe said in her Facebook entry Monday that she laid flowers and prayed at the USS Arizona Memorial.
“I offered flowers and a prayer,” she wrote in a short message.
In one of several photos also posted in her Facebook, the Japanese first lady posed with an American veteran who survived the attack.
She did not elaborate on her visit that comes amid looming speculation about a similar visit by her husband, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga acknowledged that the first lady was in Hawaii to attend an environmental conference.
Suga declined to comment, saying she is making a private visit.
Speculation for Abe’s possible visit to Pearl Harbor has grown since U.S. President Barack Obama paid tribute in May to the victims of the U.S. atomic bombing in Hiroshima.
No serving Japanese prime minister has visited Pearl Harbor.
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