President Donald Trump will hit the links this afternoon with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo.
Trump and Abe will golf together after a leisurely lunch, then break off and meet up again tonight for dinner.
Their wives met up separately this afternoon for tea. Mrs. Abe and Mrs. Trump are currently receiving a lesson on the history of pearl diving.
President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hold up hats they have both signed that read “Donald and Shinzo, Make Alliance Even Greater” at Kasumigaseki Country Club on Sunday. They’re going golfing this afternoon
President Donald Trump, left, greets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Kasumigaseki Country Club
First lady Melania Trump (C) arrives at Mikimoto Ginza Main Store in the fashionable Ginza district of Tokyo on Sunday
Melania Trump is welcomed by Japanese First Lady Akie Abe (L) upon arriving at Mikimoto
President Trump delivered remarks to the troops at Yokoto Air Base near Tokyo, telling them the U.S. ‘will never yield, never waver and never falter in defense of our people,’ before he lifted off in Marine One.
‘American soldiers are prepared to defend their nation using the full range of our unmatched capabilities,’ he said at Yokota. ‘No one – no dictator, no regime and no nation – should underestimate ever American resolve.’
Those that have underestimated in the U.S. in the past, ‘it was not pleasant for them, was it,’ Trump told American and Japanese troops stationed at the base in Western Tokyo.
The president and Japanese prime minister are due this afternoon to catch up over a round of golf.
Hideki Matsuyama, currently the No. 4 ranked pro golfer in the world, will join Trump and Abe on the course, where the U.S. president is likely to play with the golden driver Abe gifted him last year.
Mrs. Abe hosted Mrs. Trump for tea while her husband met with the U.S. president. The two women are taking in the culture of Japan this afternoon, the White House
In the evening, the couples will reunite for dinner at Ginza Ukai Tei, a Japanese fine-dining establishment that’s described on its English-language website as having an ‘atmosphere where art-nouveau and Japanese style meet, and it is just like a museum.’
Trump and Abe’s low-key Sunday precedes a day of rushed talks on Monday that will cover trade negotiations and North Korea’s unruliness. Trump will meet that afternoon with families of Japanese nationals whose loved ones were kidnapped by the North Korean government.
The U.S. president’s day begins with a state call to Japanese Emperor Akihito.
The Trumps arrived at Yokota Air Base at Fussa in Tokyo earlier on Sunday
President Trump spoke to the troops before departing the Air Force base
Trump is helped in putting on his Commander in Chief jacket upon taking the podium
Tokyo is Trump’s first overseas stop on a 12-day race around the region. The U.S. president left Washington on Friday for Honolulu, Hawaii, which he used as a stopover on his way to Japan.
Trump will travel to South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines before he heads back to the U.S.
Trump and Abe became fast allies during an Oval Office meeting in February shortly after Trump took office. The U.S. president and his wife gave Mr. and Mrs. Abe a lift after that to the Palm Beach club that Trump retains ownership of.
The billionaire president’s guest for the weekend, Abe played a round of golf with Trump at the private resort.
Trump was seen making use of the $3,755 gold golf driver that Abe gifted him when he won the presidency during their Mar-a-Lago excursion.