Prince Naruhito visits Mary Star School and Noguchi Laboratory

Kasoa (CR), March 8, GNA - Prince Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan on Monday, visited Mary Star of the Sea International School at Kasoa and the Dr Hideyo Noguchi laboratory at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital as part of his three-day visit to Ghana.

The Mary Star of the Sea International is one of the schools in the country that has adopted the teaching of Japanese since 2005, while his visit to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital was to see for himself where Dr Noguchi worked and died. Dr Noguchi died in 1928 in Ghana while researching into the causes of malaria in Africa.

At Kasoa where the Crown Prince was accompanied by Mr Koiichi Katakami, Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, children of the school welcomed the delegation with fluent Japanese language and treated them to some Japanese and Ghanaian songs.

Mrs Mary Ekenlebiu, Headmistress of the school said Mary Star of the Sea International, which was identified by a Japanese Foundation in 2005 to adopt the teaching of Japanese, had since that time taught the language from class one to Junior High School level.

She commended the Japanese government for providing them with Astronomical Telescopes and appealed for sponsorship for students of the school to go for exchange educational and cultural programmes in Japan. At the Korle Bu Hospital, Prince Naruhito was met by Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, Minister of Health, Dr Elias Sory, Director-General of Ghana Health Service and lecturers and students of the Public Health Nursing School. The Prince visited the statue of Dr Noguchi, inspected the laboratory in which he worked as a researcher and interacted with the staff of the laboratory.

The Japanese Crown Prince would later on Tuesday evening interact with Japanese living in Ghana and Ghanaian students who have in the past benefited from Japanese scholarships. 8 March 10