Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Thursday visited the Taj Mahal in Agra and spent an hour going round the monument, evincing keen interest in its marvellous architecture. Dressed in a blue suit, Mori, who was accompanied by about 50 people, showed keen interest in the marble inlay work at the mausoleum and was intrigued by the presence of two sets of tombs.
He also showed curiosity about the Koranic inscriptions on the Taj and the designs on the outer walls of the cenotaph chamber, inside which he heard the famous twenty-second echo of the dome. Mori, who arrived at Kheria Airport by air from Delhi shortly after 3 PM, drove down to Shilpagram, about six km away and one km east of the Taj, to switch over to a battery operated bus to go to the monument.
Unlike other VVIPs, Mori did not write his comments in the visitors' book but only signed it. While leaving the Taj, he spotted a Japanese couple in the crowd waiting to enter the monument, which had been closed for two hours for the general public because of the his visit, and broke protocol to stop and talk to them.

Later, the young wife Tunko Oya, told reporters that the prime minister had told her that he too, like her, had his education at Wazeda University, Tokyo.
Bureau Report