Tokyo, Thursday, April 24, 2014,6:55 pm – 10:00 pm
The president left the hotel at 6:55 pm to return to the Imperial Palace for the state dinner.
The lamps of a bridge reflected on the moat as the motorcade climbed the hill.
The president was first sighted in a rose colored receiving room with the Emperor and Empress greeting the guests one by one as they walked in, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Several former prime ministers, including Yoshihiko Noda were also presented to the parties. Guests first bowed to the Emperor, then shook the president's hand then greeted the Empress.
US members of the delegation spotted before the pool was pulled out included Ambassador Kennedy, Jen Palmieri, Jay Carney, Ben Rhodes and Mike Froman.
Then the action moved to a vast ballroom with a long head table and five linked tables at right angles each with 22 seats.
The orchestra struck up and the president and the Emperor and senior officials walked in.
The Emperor, like the president in black tie, offered the first toast.
Speaking in Japanese, he thanked the United States for the help offered after the earthquake and tsunami disaster three years ago.
According to an English script of his remarks, he recalled that relations between the two states started in 1854.
He recalled visiting the US for the first time in 1953 and his first official visit in 1960 when he was honored at a banquet by President Eisenhower.
"I have visited the United States several times since then, as a state guest and otherwise and I fondly remember the warm welcome that the people of your country extended to us each time."
"I am deeply impressed by the capacity of your country to embrace people from diverse backgrounds, its pursuit of democratic ideals and its tireless effort to build a better society.
"The peoples of our two nations have overcome the painful severance of World War II and since then have come to forge close cooperative ties."
The Emperor then raised a glass to the president and all the guests did likewise as the US National anthem played, followed by a round of applause.
The president, in his toast recalled how his mother had taken him to Japan nearly 50 years ago when he was a six-year-old boy.
Obama said he was humbled by the fact that "I stand here as the 44th President of the United States. Your Majesty is the 125th Emperor of Japan.
"Your family has embodied the spirit of the Japanese people across more than two millennia. And we feel that spirit tonight -- in His Majesty's commitment to achieving peace and in the resilience of the Japanese people, who despite difficult decades, despite the tragedies of three years ago, continue to inspire the world with your strength and discipline and dignity."
He said that he and Abe had worked to strengthen the alliance.
"After all, though separated by a vast ocean, our peoples come together every day and in every realm.
"We stand together in moments of joy --- as when Japanese baseball players help propel America's teams to victory. And we stand together in moments of pain as we did three years ago."
The president raised a glass as the Japanese anthem played.
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Menu for the state dinner
Dinner
in Honor of
The Honorable Barack H. Obama
President of the United States of America April 24, 2014 at the Imperial Palace, Tokyo
Royal Consommé
Red Sea Bream Steamed with Champagne
Roasted Leg of Lamb
Seasonal Salad
Fruit
Spirits: Corton Charlemagne 1999 (white), Château Margaux 1994 (red),
Moët et Chandon, Dom Pérignon 1998 (champagne), Japanese Sake
Aperitif Menu: Sandeman Medium Dry Sherry, Tomato Juice, Fresh-Squeezed Orange Juice
After-Dinner Drinks: Coffee, Hennessy Extra, Cointreau, Peppermint Liqueur, Ballantine’s 30 Year
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The pool of correspondents was taken to a dark room in the palace that overlooks another vast reception room. It has windows all down one side like the bridge of a ship and we are all peering out. Gradually, dinner guests entered the room, drinking coffee and apparently some other beverages.
Finally President Obama and the royal couple filed in and took stations at the end of the room in front of three chairs. Guests are now lining up to greet them.
President Obama has the longest line so far. Ambassador Kennedy is in line to pay her respects to the Emperor while Jennifer Palmieri, Susan Rice and Rhodes and Carney are waiting to talk the Empress.
We can't hear anything that is being said, but veteran Japanese journalists came prepared with binoculars.
A bell rang, apparently signaling the end of the evening. The motorcade is rolling. (10:00 pm)
Reported by Stephen Collinson of AFP as the White House Pool.
