Those working at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in North Saanich are settling down after a whirlwind visit from royalty Sunday.

Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived on Friday at the Victoria International Airport. Saturday the royal couple visited the BC legislature where they were joined by Premier Gordon Campbell and his wife Nancy Campbell.

Sunday they visited IOS in North Saanich.

The emperor and empress were greeted by top scientists working at the institute as well as by First Nations leader, Tseycum Chief Vern Jacks, and a throng of international media.

Once inside, the royal couple viewed a short DVD outlining (in Japanese) the highlights of the institute where more than 250 scientists and researchers work in oceanography, fisheries and ocean research and environmental science, to creating nautical charts and other navigation products.

After the video, the emperor and empress then toured through the foyer and viewed other displays showing the variety of research done on site. They finished with a short presentation on NEPTUNE (North-East Pacific Time-series Underwater Experiments). NEPTUNE is the world’s first regional-scale underwater ocean observatory that plugs directly into the internet. The network extends across the Juan de Fuca plate and will gather live data from a network of instruments over a broad spectrum of undersea environments.

The Japanese couple visited Greater Victoria at the end of a 12-day tour of Canada, and flew home to Japan on Tuesday.

The last time the emperor visited Victoria was when he was 19 in 1953.

reporter@peninsulanewsreview.com