STOCKHOLM -- Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko are to visit Sweden between May 21 and 24 as part of the 300th anniversary celebrations of the birth of Swedish natural scientist Carl Linnaeus.

In March, Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia made a state visit to Japan and met with the emperor and empress.

Uppsala county governor Anders Bjorck, chairman of the National Linnaeus Commission who also visited Japan, recently told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that the emperor, a keen biologist and scientist, was quite an expert on Linnaeus.