President Joe Biden will host Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday for an official visit and formal state dinner, in the latest display of the respect the president has offered toward the Indo-Pacific region. 

“From the very outset of the Biden administration, we focused on reinvesting in and reinvigorating our alliances and nowhere has this strength and vibrancy of that strategy been on display more than in the Indo-Pacific and especially with Japan,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters at Tuesday press briefing. 

Sullivan added Wednesday’s festivities will build on efforts to create “a safer and more secure” Indo-Pacific as both nations express concern over China’s military action in the Pacific. 

Wednesday will mark the fifth state dinner of Biden’s presidency with four of the five honoring fellow Indo-Pacific nations: South Korea, India and Australia. Biden’s first state dinner went to France. 

“It goes to the strength of having an Indo-Pacific strategy, the desire to show that we are a Pacific nation,” Erin Murphy, senior fellow for the Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said of the U.S. focus on the region, adding it is home to some of the “fastest growing countries and economies.”

“They all are in a position to play a key role in so many supply chains, you have countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia even that can play a role in the semiconductor supply chain, which is so critical, the healthcare supply chain, the critical minerals supply chain,” she said. 

Murphy noted Japan in particular has been one of the United States’ “strongest alliances for decades.”

But Wednesday’s celebratory events also come at a moment of public disagreement between the leaders of the two nations after Biden announced last month that he does not support a planned sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel of Japan. In December, Nippon Steel said it planned to buy the Pittsburgh-headquartered U.S. Steel for $14.1 billion. 

“You guys all know Joe Biden, you've seen Joe Biden, he's been very clear that he's going to stand up for American workers, he's going to defend their interests. He's also been very clear that he is going to make sure that the U.S.-Japan alliance is the strongest it's ever been – he's going to accomplish both of those things,” Sullivan told reporters at Tuesday’s briefing when asked about the role the topic will play in the visit, declining to go further. 

Murphy made the case Biden took a stance on the issue “purely” for “domestic reasons.”  

“It's an election year, he's pushing for foreign policy for the middle class, he's also pushing for American jobs, so he really is in a bad position,” Murphy said. “This is really where that tension of domestic needs and concerns really run up against foreign policy priorities.” 

Senior White House officials, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, were quick to discount the idea of the steel deal becoming a major topic of discussion between the leaders.

"We think the relationship is much bigger than that, and I think everybody understands everybody's position," an official said.

The official visit festivities kicked off Tuesday, when Biden and first lady Jill Biden greeted Kishida and Mrs. Yuko Kishida to the White House. Ahead of the White House visit, Kishida laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday and stopped by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and met with Microsoft’s vice chairman and president Brad Smith.

On Wednesday, Biden and Kishida are scheduled to hold a formal Oval Office sit-down before participating in a joint press conference. 

Sullivan noted the pair will announce measures to “enhance” our defense and security cooperation and “major deliverables” on space. He added there will be announcements on research partnerships on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum semiconductors and clean energy.

“Over the course of the visit, the president and the prime minister will highlight the high ambition of our alliance. Yes, in the defense and technology space, but also across the board, deepening our partnerships on space, technology, economic investment and fighting climate change,” Sullivan said, “coordinating global diplomacy and strengthening our people-to-people ties.”  

On Monday, the Pentagon announced that the U.S., United Kingdom and Australia were considering having Japan join in on the AUKUS partnership, which aims to equip Australia with nuclear-powered and conventionally-armed submarines – a move Beijing has opposed. 

Sullivan also noted on Tuesday that Japan is “one of the largest providers of economic assistance and budget support to Ukraine” amid Russia’s invasion. Biden has been struggling for months to get Congress to approve additional U.S. aid to Ukraine — a major priority of the U.S. president.

Military coordination will be a theme of the visit — and of the American-Japanese partnership moving forward. Over the weekend, the U.S. and Japan were among a quartet of nations participating in joint military exercises in the South China Sea. Those exercises are part of a change to the force structure in Japan, a senior official said Wednesday, as the U.S. seeks to integrate forces for joint protection in the region.

The U.S. and Japan will also announce and promote research initiatives, including a a joint AI project between Carnegie Mellon and Keio University in Tokyo, a venerable private resaerch univeristy; a second AI project between the University of Tsukuba, a national university; and a monetary scholarship to fund cultural exchange programs between American and Japanese high school students.

Cherry tree diplomacy

One of Japan's greatest gifts to the United States came 110 years ago: the cherry trees planted along the tidal basin of the Potomac River. The trees were a symbol of goodwill between the countries, and have largely stood the test of time, despite losing about 140 to complications of climate change.

According to a senior administration official, Japan offered to replace the lost trees with saplings, as a signal of continuing friendship and partnership. 

"I think we'll find that that it's initiatives like this that may not be as significant as new arrangements on military command structures ... but they're deeply significant to our people," the official said. To that end, Kishida will participate in a planting ceremony on the national mall to underscore the joint commitment between the nations, ahead of Wednesday's state dinner.

The dinner is set to be held Wednesday evening in the White House’s East Room. The first lady and White House Social Secretary Carlos Elizondo told reporters on Tuesday that the dinner’s decor was partly inspired by Japanese gardens and will seek to celebrate springtime. 

“For dinner, the state floor will transform into a vibrant spring garden, a place of joy and renewal, of hope and growth,” the first lady said on Tuesday. 

“As guests sit among the field of flowers, glass of silk butterflies from both our countries will dance over the tables,” she continued, “their grateful plight a reminder that as our nations navigate the winds of change, we do so together, as partners in peace and prosperity.”  

Attendees will be served a House-cured salmon as a first course, followed by dry-aged Rib Eye steak as the main. Dessert is a salted caramel pistachio cake with matcha ganache and cherry ice cream. 

On Tuesday,  the president and first lady gifted the Japanese first couple a three-legged table handmade by a Japanese American owned company. Biden gave Kishida a LP set autographed by Billy Joel as well as a vintage vinyl record collection.

The first lady also gifted Mrs. Kishida a painting of the cherry tree the pair planted on the South Lawn last year as well as an autographed soccer ball signed by the U.S. women’s national soccer team and Japanese women’s national football team ahead of their matchup in the SheBelieves Cup last weekend.

Marcos of Phillippines to join Kishida, Biden for trilateral summit

On Thursday, Kishida will join Biden and the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., for a summit in Washington.

It follows the historic summit Biden hosted at the Camp David presidential retreat last year between the U.S., Japan and South Korea as he looks to make shoring up relations with Indo-Pacific allies a priority in the face of a complicated Pacific and relationship with Beijing. Japan and South Korea put aside years of frosty relations to join meeting as the nations come together over concerns about China’s actions in the Pacific and North Korea’s nuclear threats. 

The trilateral summit, senior administration officials said, works into a coordinated strategy for Indo-Pacific nations to "flip the script" on China's efforts to isolate countries in the region. On Sunday, the U.S. worked with Japan, the Philippeans and Austrailia on joint military exercises within the last week, solidifying relationships among the nations.

"In every practice that we're doing these strategic, diplomic and military exercises...the end result is that china's attempts to intimidate one coutnry, make an example of that country and intimidate the others in the neighborhood, flips the script and China becomes isolated and the outhlier in the neighborhood," a senior official told reporters Tuesday. 

The Japanese prime minister is also set to address a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.