A special envoy from Washington arrived in Japan on Tuesday afternoon to convey apologies from the United States to Japan over the Feb. 9 sinking of a Japanese high school fisheries training ship off Hawaii, which left nine Japanese missing and presumed dead.
Adm. William Fallon, vice chief of naval operations in the U.S. Navy, arrived at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo aboard a military aircraft.
"I sincerely and humbly request -- on behalf of the United States government, the United States Navy and the American people -- that the government and people of Japan accept our apology for the tragic loss of the Ehime Maru," Fallon, 56, said in a statement released upon his arrival.