Akiko

Japanese rescuers battled the clock and powerful aftershocks Tuesday to find survivors of a New Year's Day earthquake that killed at least 48 people and caused widespread destruction.

The 7.5 magnitude quake that rattled Ishikawa prefecture on the main island of Honshu triggered tsunami waves more than a metre high, caused a major fire and tore apart roads.

Japanese Princess Akiko of Mikasa became the honorary president of Prince Mikasa Foundation in Istanbul on Sept. 13.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu received Japanese Princess Akiko of Mikasa on Sept. 10 in the capital of Ankara.

When almost 600 Ottoman sailors lost their lives in far-off Japan in 1890, few at the time would have thought that the tragedy would usher in more than a century of friendship.