TOKYO -- Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will visit Japan later this month, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, in the first visit here in nearly two decades for the heir to the British throne.

The prince and duchess will travel around Japan from October 27 to 31, meeting with Prime Minister Taro Aso and having dinner with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, the ministry said.

Charles and Camilla will also travel to Nara, an ancient city in the west of the country with some of Japan's most famous Buddhist temples, as well as to the central mountain town of Nagano, it said.

Japan "sincerely welcomes the visit of their royal highnesses, which will further strengthen the friendly relationship" between the countries, it said.

Charles has not visited Japan since 1990, when he came for Akihito's enthronement. Charles's mother Queen Elizabeth last came to Japan in 1972, a foreign ministry official said.

Members of Japan's imperial household have frequently gone to Britain. Akihito, then crown prince, represented Japan at Elizabeth's coronation in 1953.

In 1998, the imperial couple was jeered by World War II veterans as they rode through London in a ceremonial carriage, upsetting many in Japan.