President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden will roll out the diplomatic – and literal – red carpet Wednesday for Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and his wife, Kishida Yuko, welcoming them to the White House for a meticulously planned official state visit intertwining and highlighting American and Japanese cultures, including the music of Paul Simon and towering cherry blossom branches.
The White House will lean into the full pomp and circumstance of a state visit as the president seeks to emphasize the strong alliance between the two countries. Biden has made his Indo-Pacific strategy and efforts to serve as a counterweight to China a key plank of his foreign policy, even as wars in Ukraine and Gaza have captured much attention during his first term.
“We celebrate the flourishing friendship between the United States and Japan,” Jill Biden said at a media preview of the event Tuesday evening.
She continued, “Our nations are partners in building a world where we choose creation over destruction, peace over bloodshed, and democracy over autocracy,” underscoring the importance of the alliance.
The Bidens welcomed the prime minister and his wife to the White House on Tuesday evening, hosting the couple for a casual dinner at BlackSalt, a local seafood restaurant. The formalities will kick off Wednesday morning with an official arrival ceremony on the South Lawn, which includes a military review, a performance of both countries’ national anthems and remarks from both heads of state. The leaders will then retreat to the Oval Office for bilateral meetings. They will hold a joint news conference in the afternoon.
In the evening, 230 guests will arrive for a glitzy, black-tie dinner, the result of weeks of planning by the White House social team, the East Wing, the…
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