Spaceland: Biden woos Japan PM with Paul Simon and moonshots

President pulls out all the stops as he hosts Fumio Kishida for a gala state visit at the White House focused on countering a rising China.

Joe Biden and Fumio Kishida raise their glasses at the state dinner in the East Room of the White House on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

When you want to impress guests, it helps to have moon rockets and superstar singer-songwriters on call – and US President Joe Biden has both.

Mr Biden pulled out all the stops as he hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a gala state visit at the White House on Wednesday focused on countering a rising China.

As he sought to build a bridge over the troubled waters of Asia-Pacific geopolitics, Mr Biden made a series of highly symbolic gestures for key ally Mr Kishida.

Legendary folk-rocker Paul Simon performed for the Kishidas after the state dinner, the latest in a series of iconic musicians to play for foreign leaders at the White House.

Wearing a black suit and tie but with his top button undone, the 82-year-old strummed his way through a series of hits, starting with his 1986 classic Graceland. The audience applauded Simon at the end of the song.

Movie star Robert De Niro could be seen trying to find a seat just before the gig in the State Dining Room.

The White House said first lady Jill Biden chose Simon as a tribute because the Japanese Prime Minister shared her appreciation for the artist.

The Bidens treated Mr Kishida, his wife, Yuko, and 200 other guests to a state dinner in the gilt-trimmed East Room of the White House, featuring modern American cuisine with Japanese flavors.

Paul Simon performs his hit Graceland at the reception. Picture: AFP

For starters, there was house-cured salmon, avocados, red grapefruit, watermelon radish, cucumber and shiso leaf fritters – all done in the style of a California roll sushi. The main course was dry-aged rib eye steak with blistered shishito pepper butter and for dessert there was salted caramel pistachio cake with matcha ganache, cherry ice cream and raspberry drizzle … with a garnish of cherry blossom petals.

The two leaders were keen to show US-Japan relations soaring to new heights, and nowhere was that clearer than Mr Biden’s announcement that a Japanese person would be the first non-American to walk on the moon.

Under NASA’s Artemis program, the US has set a goal of returning humans to the moon for the first time since 1972. US-Japan “ties stretch up to the moon, where two Japanese astronauts will join future American missions, and one will become the first non-American ever to land on the moon,” Mr Biden said during a press conference with Mr Kishida. Only 12 people have walked on the moon, all of them white American men.

Robert De Niro and girlfriend Tiffany Chen arrive. Picture: AFP

Mr Kishida stuck to the theme in his toast for the state dinner, quoting the cult 1960s US television show Star Trek. “Let me conclude with a line from Star Trek, which you all know – to boldly go where no one has gone before,” he said.

“I would like to propose a toast to our voyage to the frontier of the US-Japan relationship with these words – boldly go!” He also noted the Japanese heritage of star ­George Takei, who played crew member Hikaru Sulu.

Both Mr Biden and Mr Kishida went heavy on the symbolism of cherry blossoms, the evanescent springtime flowers beloved both Japanese and Washingtonians. Japan sent over 3000 cherry blossom trees to the US just over a century ago and they still line the US capital’s scenic Tidal Basin. Tokyo will send another 250 to replace some being chopped down in Washington as part of an embankment rehabilitation project.

AFP