In June 2003, she visited Dublin, Ireland for the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games. In June 2004, she made an official visit to Canada, traveling extensively across the nation as part of the 75th Anniversary of the formal diplomatic relations between Canada and Japan. During this visit, she received two honorary doctorates in Law, one from the University of Alberta and the other from the University of Prince Edward Island. In November 2004, she visited Bangkok, Thailand, to attend the 3rd IUCN World Conference as Honorary President of BirdLife International.