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Here are some photos of Prince William’s first day of his six-day tour of Japan and China. He arrived in Japan on Thursday. Apparently, he got a decent reception from the Japanese people, but I bet the reception would have been crazy if Kate had come with him. That’s not necessarily a slam on William – I just think most people are more excited to see the princesses and duchesses as opposed to the princes and dukes. You can read more about William’s first day in Japan here, at People Magazine.

This tour his first “work” of 2015. He’s had “off” for several months because he was studying for his pilot’s exams, which he needed to pass before he could fly with the East Anglia Air Ambulance. Last week, the Daily Mail reported that William’s start-date was being pushed back, perhaps to accommodate this Japan & China tour, perhaps to accommodate the new baby, or perhaps because William was having issues passing his exams. But! That report might have been false. Maybe. The official word from Kensington Palace is that William passed all of his exams before leaving on this tour:

Prince William will soon be back in the pilot seat to continue his dream of saving lives. The 32-year-old prince has passed all his exams needed to start work as an air ambulance pilot, his office has revealed. The former Royal Air Force search-and-rescue pilot passed the remainder of his tests shortly before leaving for a short tour of Japan and China late Wednesday.

He took “a total of 14 written exams on a range of aviation topics, including the Principles of Flight, Navigation, Flight Planning and Air Law,” says a statement released by Kensington Palace on Thursday.

The statement added that following his week-long tour to Japan and China, which began Thursday, he will start working for the East Anglian Air Ambulance. Formally employed by Bond Air Services, which provides the crews for the charity, the prince will initially have to complete another period of mandatory training, involving aircraft training, in-flight skills testing and further written exams.

William, who will largely be based with his young family at their country home Anmer Hall in Norfolk as he works around Norwich and Cambridge, expects to start “operational shifts” in early summer. Meanwhile, his wife Kate, 33, was quietly working behind the scenes at Kensington Palace on Wednesday. She met with Sandy Nairne, the outgoing head of the National Portrait Gallery, one of her key patronages.

[From People]

Well, if it comes from KP, then it must be true, eh? I would trust this more if it came from the East Anglia Air Ambulance, but I guess they know what they’re doing. And no one would have proclaimed that William passed his exams if he did poorly on them. Right? So, now that he’s passed his exams, I expect he will begin a full-time work schedule in a week. Oh, wait – did you notice this? He “expects to start ‘operational shifts’ in early summer…” So for the next four months, he’ll really have to train and won’t be able to fluff about? My fear is that this is going to be just like his RAF gig – this kind of training is really expensive and it’s a significant investment you’re putting into these pilots, and William is just going to end up doing it for a year or so until he gets bored. It just seems like such a waste of time, effort and money.

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Photos courtesy of Getty.