The Japanese royal couple has been welcomed on the US island of Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.
The visit is the first of its kind and co-incides with the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
Saipan saw a key battle in the defeat of Japan by the US military.
Our Guam correspondent, Rlene Steffy, says a large crowd welcomed Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.
"About a thousand people gathered at a baseball field which is right past the airport where they cordoned off the area so that people could participate in the drive-by and wave."
The royal couple will today visit memorials dedicated to American and local war dead as well as Japanese.