The Emperor and Empress started a four-day visit Tuesday to Mie Prefecture to worship at Ise Shrine and visit a college and other facilities -- just as the Crown Princess is expected to give birth to her first baby any day now.

According to the Imperial Household Agency, the trip will not be cut short even if the Crown Princess gives birth while they are away from Tokyo.

Celebration events to be held at the Imperial Palace in the days following the birth could be postponed until the couple's return, agency officials said.

The Emperor and Empress are visiting the Shinto shrine for the first time in seven years. The couple have traveled to it twice -- in 1990 and 1994 -- since the Emperor ascended the throne in 1989.

Ise Shrine has special significance for the Imperial line, as it enshrines their ancestral gods.

The Imperial Couple left JR Tokyo Station by shinkansen and will visit Mie Prefectural College of Nursing in Tsu, the prefecture's capital. This is the first time for the couple to visit places in Mie other than Ise Shrine.

After visiting Ise Shrine today, they are scheduled to tour the Shima Cyber Base Center for information technology in the town of Ago and the Mikimoto Pearl Museum in Toba. They will return to Tokyo on Friday evening, the agency said.