The first state dinner for Japan in nearly a decade was festooned with cherry blossoms. Lots and lots of cherry blossoms.
In the East Room of the White House on Wednesday evening, President Biden reminded the dinner guests — including actor Robert De Niro, former figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, and Bill and Hillary Clinton — that cherry blossoms signified possibility. He began his four-minute toast, alongside Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, by saying that the blossoms “remind us that we can begin anew every year. That tomorrow can be a better day than today.”
Biden also told the story of receiving a large, shiny envelope of letters a few days after his inauguration in 2021. Inside were notes of appreciation from Japanese students who stuttered, just like the president had in his youth. We’re the same, the letters conveyed.
“Well, we are the same, Japan and the United States,” Biden told the guests. “We may be divided by distance, but generation after generation are brought together by the same hope, the same values, the same commitment to democracy and faith.”
Kishida echoed these sentiments in his speech, delivered in English. But in a departure from diplomatic tradition in the Biden era, Kishida didn’t borrow lines from an Irish poet. Instead, he quoted both “Star Trek” — the bilateral relationship should “boldly go” into the future — and John F. Kennedy, from a 1961 state dinner for Japan: “The Pacific Ocean does not separate Japan and the United States. Rather, it unites us.”
Dinner began with thick slices of cured salmon, laid on a springy mattress of ruby red grapefruit and crowned with avocados, cucumbers and shisho leaf tempura. The inspiration for the sushi-like dish was the “iconic California roll,” according to White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford.
The entree of dry-aged beef rib eye contained nods to both American and Japanese cuisine: morel mushrooms from Oregon and greens from Ohio were adorned with sesame oil sabayon and a blistered shishito pepper butter.
Not even dessert was safe from cherry-blossom diplomacy. The salted-caramel pistachio cake was enveloped in a matcha ganache, flanked by cherry ice cream, and drizzled with raspberry.
Cherry blossoms patterned the sage-green tablecloths. Cherry-blossom centerpieces towered over the guests. The springtime color scheme was pastels: pinks, periwinkles and lavenders. The flower arrangements included Jill Biden’s favorites: peonies, roses and hydrangeas. Even the floor was transformed into a vinyl river of spring blossoms and gold-dappled koi fish — a symbol of “friendship, peace, luck and perseverance,” the first lady said earlier.
The after-dinner entertainment was singer Paul Simon, a favorite of both Jill Biden and the Japanese prime minister. His first song was “Graceland.”
The merry, cherry state dinner drew out the very rich — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Apple CEO Tim Cook — and the very Washington: The guest list included the secretaries of the Treasury, State, Energy, Commerce and Homeland Security departments.
It was “great” to be back in the White House, said Bill Clinton as he walked toward the dinner, pointing to a portrait of Hillary hanging on the wall. Hillary, when asked her thoughts about the upcoming presidential election, deflected. “Oh, we’re having a good time tonight,” she said.
Also present were a handful of governors from key swing states, such as Gov. Roy Cooper (D) of North Carolina.
Compared with recent state dinners — the Bidens have hosted the leaders of France, India and South Korea — it was a smaller affair (with around 225 guests), full of formality and lacking subtlety: From the spread to the decor to the toasts, the emphasis was on the sweetness of shared achievements and the promise of fresh hopes, despite the wars raging in Gaza and Ukraine, and the specters of Japan’s neighbors, China and North Korea.
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As they gave their toasts, Biden and Kishida stood in front of panel of traditional Japanese fans, each pleat signifying the many different paths a life can take, according to Carlos Elizondo, the White House social secretary.
