Colorado · June 18–20, 1994
The Imperial Visit to Colorado
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited a Japanese-American farm, stayed two nights in a Longmont home, spent a Sunday in Rocky Mountain National Park and met Colorado’s Japanese-American community in Denver.
Colorado account
Three days from Sakata Farms to Sakura Square
The Colorado program was scheduled as a period of rest in the middle of a seventeen-day United States visit. It joined four settings: Bob Sakata’s farm near Brighton, a private residence in Longmont, Rocky Mountain National Park and Japanese-American institutions in Denver.
The imperial couple arrived in Colorado on Saturday, June 18, and left for Los Angeles on Monday, June 20. They slept both nights at Ken and Susan Pratt’s home at 1921 Panorama Circle. The larger entourage did not.
1921 Panorama Circle
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko used the private house as their Colorado lodging on Saturday and Sunday nights. Ken and Susan Pratt stayed with friends. A private dinner was held at the residence Saturday evening.56
Raintree Plaza Hotel
Approximately eighty officials and sixty Japanese reporters and photographers were accommodated at the hotel. It was the working base for staff and press, not the imperial couple’s lodging.34
How Longmont entered the itinerary
Bill Hosokawa, the Denver journalist and honorary consul-general, connected the planners with the Pratts. The planning team wanted a quiet base outside downtown, convenient to Rocky Mountain National Park. Hosokawa’s account says Boulder had no suitable hotel and that a private residence was unprecedented on the couple’s previous foreign tours. An advance party examined several homes in Boulder and Denver’s northern suburbs, but kept returning to Panorama Circle.78
Hosokawa had encountered Ken and Susan Pratt socially and asked—without initially naming the guests—whether they would surrender their home for several days to a very important Japanese couple. They agreed. Federal security agents later asked Ken to remove hunting rifles and shotguns displayed in the basement; only then did the Pratts learn that the proposed guests were the Emperor and Empress. Susan bought new sheets for the oversized bed in the primary bedroom.8
The civic network behind the choice
The house did not enter the story by chance. Ken Pratt, then president of the Economic Development Association of Longmont, was part of a 1988 investment mission to Japan guided by Hosokawa. A visit to Chino unexpectedly became the beginning of Longmont’s sister-city relationship. Ken later traveled to Japan with Gov. Roy Romer, worked on Japanese business ties in Boulder County and hosted a Keidanren delegation at the house in 1990. The 1994 stay grew from years of personal, commercial and civic exchange.8
The plan offered a private interval within a heavily managed state visit. It also drew intense attention. A Japanese television crew filmed the house room by room, according to a national account published after the tour. Hosokawa later wrote that reporters tracked down the property, entered or prowled the grounds and, in one case, hired a helicopter to photograph it.1317
St. Louis → Denver → Brighton → Longmont
Arrival day
A farm visit, a neighborhood welcome and the first night
The day began in St. Louis with visits to the Missouri Botanical Garden and Missouri History Museum. The imperial party arrived before noon aboard a white Boeing 747 at Stapleton International Airport. The Colorado Children’s Chorale sang “Moonlight on the River Colorado” in English and Japanese; the visitors shook hands with each singer before a nine-car caravan carried them toward Brighton. The Asahi Shimbun photographed the arrival in four frames.812
Bob Sakata’s farm
The first Colorado stop was Bob Sakata’s farm near Brighton. Sakata, a Japanese-American farmer whose family had been incarcerated during World War II, showed the visitors a large-scale vegetable operation using about a dozen pieces of equipment. The demonstration was designed to turn bare ground into planting-ready earth—plowed, harrowed and smoothed—in thirty minutes. Rain fell before the visit and stopped in time.8
Sakata invited the Emperor into a tractor’s driver seat. Crown Prince Naruhito had driven a similar machine there nine years earlier. Akihito answered with a smile:
Kyodo also recorded Sakata’s response to the weather. He said his father had regarded the Emperor as a godlike person and described the rain as a timely blessing for the farm.7
The welcome at Panorama Circle
The motorcade continued from Brighton to Longmont. Eleven children formed the welcoming group at the Pratt residence. They had practiced “Sakura” for a month. Five-year-old Jennifer Stoecker presented cherry blossoms to Empress Michiko. The Times-Call photographs show the children, flowers, neighbors, security personnel and the couple moving along the front walk.49
Ken and Susan led their guests inside. Hosokawa records that Susan delivered an apple pie she had baked that evening. The Pratts then gave over the house and stayed with friends while a private dinner and the first of two nights took place there. The reviewed sources still do not identify the dinner menu or chef.68
Longmont → Rocky Mountain National Park → Estes Park → Boulder → Longmont
Park day
Wildflowers, Sheep Lakes, hail and a return to Longmont
Breakfast in the sun-room
Hosokawa preserves the weekend’s most intimate house story. A teenager named Jill Green served an American-style breakfast in the Pratts’ sun-room. When she crouched to wedge folded cardboard beneath a wobbling table leg, she discovered the Emperor on his hands and knees helping to lift the table. Green was awestruck; Akihito treated the small domestic repair as perfectly natural and great fun.8
The couple left the residence in a sedan rather than a limousine for Rocky Mountain National Park. Akihito wore a green jacket. Michiko wore a white blouse, gray slacks and white sneakers. Kyodo reported that they got out of the car repeatedly to examine the landscape and alpine plants.810
An unexpected shower caught the party near a park museum. Japanese reporters watched Akihito hold an umbrella over Michiko while hurrying her to shelter—an ordinary gesture that Hosokawa says was striking because they had not seen it from an Emperor in Japan. After the rain, Michiko knelt to inspect a wild lily and Akihito crouched to photograph her.8
At Sheep Lakes, the Emperor returned to the car for binoculars and a camera. He watched waterbirds and photographed the Empress looking at flowers. A later account said Michiko asked the driver to stop so she could cross the field and experience the setting at the scale of the sheep. Hosokawa remembered her running toward the lake in sneakers, with members of the press following.6817
The group traveled by car to an elevation of about 2,500 meters. Thunder developed as they climbed, followed by pea-sized hail. During lunch, a park official reported that lightning had started a fire. Kyodo said the Emperor expressed concern that it not become a disaster.10
The National Park Service recorded approximately two hours in the park, devoted to views, wildlife and wildflowers, under coordination with the Secret Service. The visit ended without incident. Lunch was held at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. That evening the imperial couple hosted Ken and Susan Pratt and other dignitaries at Flagstaff House above Boulder, where chef Mark Monette later recalled preparing a special menu. They returned to Panorama Circle for the second night.681118
Film record
天皇皇后両陛下 アメリカ訪問Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress Visit the United States
NHK’s 2-minute, 39-second archival report includes the couple walking with park staff, pausing in the grass and examining wildflowers.
Photographic record
Thirty-one frames from the park day
The Asahi Shimbun’s Colorado sequence contains thirty-one photographs dated June 19. The complete asset-by-asset index appears in the media archive below.
Longmont → Denver → Los Angeles
Denver day and departure
A neighborhood farewell and Colorado’s Japanese-American history
The motorcade left Panorama Circle Monday morning. Times-Call photographs show residents waiting near the route. Fumiko Gotoh waved a Japanese flag. Mildred McCleave carried a hand-lettered sign reading, “Please Come See Us Again!”9
Sakura Square
Residents of Tamai Tower received only about twenty minutes’ notice that the motorcade would stop at Sakura Square. The plaza and second-story walkways filled. Hosokawa contrasted the scene with prewar Japan, where blinds were once drawn along an imperial route: in Denver, elderly Japanese Americans waved from above and Akihito smiled and waved back.8
The couple met members of the Japanese-American community, including 92-year-old Kane Uenishi. When Michiko asked her birth year and Uenishi answered 1902, Akihito immediately calculated that she was 92, surprising those nearby.14
The couple paused before the bust of former Colorado governor Ralph Carr, who had opposed the wartime treatment of Japanese Americans and welcomed displaced families to Colorado. Akihito referred to Carr again at a luncheon hosted by Gov. Roy Romer, raising a toast to the goodwill shown during that difficult period.14
Reception, luncheon and flight west
At a Brown Palace reception attended by about four hundred Japanese Americans, the Emperor credited the community’s perseverance and public contributions for the welcome the visitors had received. Hosokawa remembered the formal receiving line dissolving as the crowd surrounded the couple. When someone asked whether a cheer was permitted, the ballroom answered with a resounding Tenno Heika, banzai—a salute to guests who had made themselves seem unusually approachable.8
Romer hosted lunch at the Governor’s Mansion. The Asahi sequence records Sakura Square, the luncheon and the return to Stapleton. The couple departed for Los Angeles, where the national tour resumed that evening.61214
Broader context · June 10–26, 1994
The complete United States journey
Colorado occupied three days in a route that began in Atlanta and continued through the East Coast, St. Louis, California and Hawaii. The official itinerary below places the Longmont stay inside that national sequence.
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Atlanta
6月10日（金）June 10 · AtlantaTokyo departure; Atlanta arrival; Martin Luther King Center and Georgia reception.
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Charleston → Washington
6月11日（土）June 11 · Charleston → WashingtonAtlanta History Museum, Charleston civic events, then Washington arrival.
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Washington
6月12日（日）June 12 · WashingtonJapanese-American representatives, Freer Gallery, Very Special Arts, and Kennedy Center.
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The White House
6月13日（月）June 13 · The White HouseSouth Lawn welcome, meeting with President and Mrs. Clinton, Arlington, reception, and state dinner.
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Washington institutions
6月14日（火）June 14 · Washington institutionsGreat Falls Elementary, National Academy of Sciences, Library of Congress, Smithsonian, and embassy reception.
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Charlottesville → New York
6月15日（水）June 15 · Charlottesville → New YorkMonticello, University of Virginia, and Metropolitan Museum of Art dinner.
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New York
6月16日（木）June 16 · New YorkUnited Nations, Japan Society/JET gathering, and Rockefeller family dinner.
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St. Louis
6月17日（金）June 17 · St. LouisDisability services center, Gateway Arch welcome, art museum reception, and baseball.
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St. Louis → Colorado → Longmont
6月18日（土）ロングモント御着June 18 · St. Louis → Colorado → LongmontMissouri Botanical Garden, Missouri History Museum, Sakata Farm, then the first night at the Pratt residence.
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Longmont and Rocky Mountain National Park
6月19日（日）同地御滞在June 19 · Longmont and Rocky Mountain National ParkA day in the national park, Stanley Hotel lunch, Flagstaff House dinner, and the second night at Panorama Circle.
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Longmont → Denver → Los Angeles
6月20日（月）デンバー御着June 20 · Longmont → Denver → Los AngelesMotorcade departure, Sakura Square, Brown Palace, Governor’s Mansion, and onward flight.
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Los Angeles
6月21日（火）June 21 · Los AngelesHuntington Library, civic lunch, Japanese-American cultural events, and the Reagans.
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Los Angeles → San Francisco
6月22日（水）サンフランシスコ御着June 22 · Los Angeles → San FranciscoJapanese American National Museum, retirement home, and Asian Art Museum dinner.
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Northern California → Honolulu
6月23日（木）ホノルル御着June 23 · Northern California → HonoluluJapanese-American elders, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and Hoover House before Hawaii.
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Honolulu
6月24日（金）同地御滞在June 24 · HonoluluPunchbowl memorial, Japanese and Japanese-American representatives, and governor’s dinner.
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Honolulu departure
6月25日（土）同地御発June 25 · Honolulu departureEast-West Center and Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii.
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Tokyo
6月26日（日）東京御着June 26 · TokyoReturn to Japan after the seventeen-day visit.
Photographs from the national tour
The relationship continued
Longmont remained in the record after the tour ended
The United States visit ended in Honolulu on June 25, followed by the return to Tokyo on June 26. Ken Pratt died on March 30, 1995, at age 53. Longmont later renamed Florida Avenue between Main Street and Hover Road as Ken Pratt Boulevard.
On March 25, 1996, the Imperial Household Agency recorded tea at the Imperial residence with Susan Pratt, the Denver honorary consul-general and his wife, and others. Hosokawa’s later account adds that Susan spent about an hour recalling the Longmont visit with the couple. The meeting documents a relationship that continued beyond the Colorado weekend and beyond Ken Pratt’s death.815
Media archive
The complete visual and recorded record assembled for this page
The narrative above uses selected images. This archive keeps the full Longmont sequence visible, indexes every identified Asahi Colorado frame and gathers the available film and audio records in one place.
Complete imperial-visit negative set32 of 32 images · Longmont Museum 2015.020.N00008
Related welcome, motorcade & Keidanren records10 images · Longmont Museum
Credit: Longmont Times-Call photographs, Longmont Museum collections. The principal drawer contains all 32 images in record 2015.020.N00008; the related drawer contains ten images from five additional records.
Official and institutional tour photographs
Appendix
Sources and archive status
- 宮内庁「アメリカ合衆国ご訪問（平成6年）」Imperial Household Agency · Visit to the United States, 1994 Official dates, destinations and principal events.
- The Washington Post, “The Emperor Who Bowed to Change,” June 10, 1994. National preview specifying two nights with a Longmont family.
- Rocky Mountain News, June 12, 1994. The private residence and the approximately eighty officials and sixty Japanese journalists based at Raintree.
- Rocky Mountain News, “With a Bow and a Song,” June 17, 1994. Two nights at the Pratt home, the Pratts staying with friends and the children’s preparations.
- Rocky Mountain News, June 19, 1994. Contemporary account of the arrival and Longmont welcome.
- Bill Hosokawa, “A Memorable Visit,” Rocky Mountain Jiho, Dec. 28, 1994. The strongest written chronology of the two nights, private Saturday dinner, park day, Stanley Hotel lunch, Flagstaff House dinner and Monday events.
- 共同通信「天皇、皇后両陛下 デンバー入り」Kyodo · Their Majesties arrive in Denver, June 18, 1994 Stapleton arrival, Sakata Farms, the tractor exchange and the reason given for private lodging.
- Bill Hosokawa, Colorado’s Japanese Americans: From 1886 to the Present, printed pages 179–181 and chapter 22, “The Imperials,” pages 208–215; family’s photographed copy reviewed and OCR-archived August 28, 2026. JSTOR chapter record. Japanese edition: 『日系人のコロラド』Colorado’s Japanese Americans.
- Longmont Museum 2015.020.N00008, the principal 32-negative Times-Call set, together with related records N00002 through N00005 and I.30.01.MIS.001.
- 共同通信「天皇、皇后両陛下 ロッキーの自然を満喫」Kyodo · Their Majesties enjoy the nature of the Rockies, June 19, 1994 Clothing, wildlife, flowers, photography, elevation, hail, lightning fire and the relaxed mood.
- National Park Service incident record 94-332. Date, duration, purpose, Secret Service coordination and completion without incident.
- The Asahi Shimbun / Getty Images Colorado sequence. Forty-two photographs dated June 18–20.
- Bill Hosokawa, “The Overzealous Press,” Rocky Mountain Jiho, April 7, 1999. Press conduct around the Longmont property.
- 共同通信「天皇皇后両陛下、ロサンゼルス入り」Kyodo · Their Majesties arrive in Los Angeles, June 20, 1994 Sakura Square, Kane Uenishi, Ralph Carr, the governor’s luncheon and the departure for Los Angeles.
- 宮内庁「天皇皇后両陛下のご日程」平成8年1月～3月Imperial Household Agency · Schedule of Their Majesties, January–March 1996 March 25 tea with Susan Pratt and others.
- NHK「天皇皇后両陛下 アメリカ訪問」NHK · Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress Visit the United States Public 2:39 archival report containing Rocky Mountain National Park footage.
- The New York Times, “In Japan’s Imperial Roadshow, Signs of a More Relaxed Era,” June 27, 1994. Room-to-room filming at the house and the Sheep Lakes anecdote.
- Flagstaff House biography of chef Mark Monette. Records his preparation of a special menu for Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.
- Library of Congress tour account and photographs 51790 through 51794.
- President Clinton’s June 13 welcoming remarks and state dinner remarks.
Archive status
Preserved and indexed
- All 32 images in the principal Longmont Museum negative set and ten images in related Museum records.
- Metadata and research previews for all 42 Asahi Shimbun Colorado photographs.
- The five Library of Congress master TIFFs and large JPEGs.
- The NHK 2:39 tour report, contact sheet and source metadata in the private family archive.
- The two White House audio recordings and the Cabinet Office film.
- All 18 original photographs of the Hosokawa excerpts, 22 reading-order page crops, page-level OCR and the searchable 22-page PDF.
Still outstanding
- The title and viewing copy of the Japanese television feature remembered as a profile of a typical American household.
- Documentation identifying Saturday’s menu and the reported San Francisco sushi chef.
- Full Museum caption sheets and archive-quality scans for the Longmont photographs.