Princess Takamado of Japan on Tuesday watched her country play Colombia in the World Cup in the small Russian city of Saransk, becoming the first member of Japan's royal family to visit the country since 1916, Russian state media reported. State television showed images of the Japanese royal, a keen football supporter who has travelled to every World Cup to support Japan since 1998, in the host city of Saransk for the game on Tuesday afternoon.
The Japanese Embassy in Moscow told AFP Princess Takamado would also travel to Yekaterinburg where Japan will play Senegal on Sunday and where she will take part in a seminar on traditional "Kyudo" archery. Ties between Japan and Russia have been strained for decades over four islands occupied by the Soviet Union in the closing days of World War II but that are claimed by Tokyo.