It was his love for green tea and Ireland’s historic win over the All Blacks at the weekend that led to Taoiseach Micheál Martin receiving a warm reception in Japan on Tuesday night.
Diplomats and business leaders joined Mr Martin at the five-star Okura Hotel in Tokyo for a reception for the Irish community and partners in Japan.
After a 12 hour-plus flight on Monday, Mr Martin admitted he was “in heaven” when he touched down to a mug of his favourite green tea.
Addressing dignitaries on Tuesday, Mr Martin said: “The Ambassador referenced my fondness for green tea and I think it was through my political career, many years ago in the Japanese Embassy in Dublin that I discovered the delights of green tea and I have to say that it has sustained me well throughout my political life and I continue to drink the nectar.
“I find it very, very effective and sustainable.
“And I’m in heaven now today as we arrived there’s plenty of green tea about the place.”
Mr Martin also played up to sporting fans in the room when he mentioned Japan pulling off one of the shocks of Rugby World Cup history against Ireland in 2019 which led to the room erupting in laughter and applause.
He said: “We appreciate and we recall too, in fact we are unlikely to ever forget the spirited welcome that Japan reserved for Ireland’s men’s rugby team during the World Cup in 2019.
“But that said, we have had a wonderful weekend of sport in Ireland because we have bounced back and we beat the All Blacks in New Zealand, a not to be forgotten moment, this extraordinary achievement by our rugby players and we wish them every success into the future.”
Mr Martin was treated to a traditional Japanese cultural performance by Ransho Fujima while Irishman Peter MacMillan chanted an ancient Japanese celebratory poem.
The poem referenced the three-leaf and four-leaf clover, a shared motif in Ireland and Japanese culture.
However, it was the tunes from the Toyota ceili band - a group of native musicians with a grá for traditional Irish music that lifted both Irish and Japanese spirits.
The band qualified for the Ceili Band Competition, the All Ireland Fleadh Cheoil in 2016. And were the first ceili band to qualify from an Asian country and received a standing ovation.
It was also announced by the Taoiseach that this October, the inaugural ‘Seamus Heaney Award’ for promotion of Ireland-Japan relations through literature will be launched.
Mr Martin will meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday and said he will discuss global and regional matters including Russia’s illegal and immoral war on Ukraine and the devastating conflict there.
He added: “I want to thank you very much for the warm welcome you’ve extended to me and to team Ireland in Japan.”
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