Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hosted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday at a dinner following their summit meeting earlier in the day. After the dinner, the two leaders even went to a rare after-party to further the conciliatory mood.
The two leaders had dinner at Yoshizawa, a long-established Japanese restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo. Kishida and his wife Yuko, and Yoon and his wife Kim Keon Hee, enjoyed Matsusaka beef sukiyaki, while Kamotsuru, a brand of sake brewed in Hiroshima Prefecture -- Kishida's home turf -- was also served.
Kishida and Yoon then went to Rengatei, a restaurant in Ginza that serves yoshoku Japanese-style Western dishes, for talks with only interpreters present. In a relaxed atmosphere, they reportedly took off their jackets and ties. Yoon had visited the restaurant in the past. There, Kishida and Yoon enjoyed such items as rice omelet, pork cutlets, hamburg steak and hayashi rice, a dish featuring sliced beef in demi-glace sauce.
Liberal Democratic Party Vice President Taro Aso had helped choose Rengatei as the after-party venue. When Aso visited South Korea last November, Yoon told him he was fond of rice omelets. Aso passed this information along to the prime minister's side.
A source close to the prime minister said, "It is rare to have a second meeting with a foreign leader, so this was a good opportunity for the two sides to get to know each other."
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