By Jason Douglas and Junko Fukutome

TOKYO -- The British aren't the only ones who can sprinkle a little royal stardust when President Trump comes to town.

As Trump pays a visit to Tokyo this week, his Japanese hosts are counting on some face time with the emperor to set a positive tone -- even if the reception fell short on pomp.

Shortly after Trump's arrival in Japan on Monday afternoon, Emperor Naruhito welcomed the president to the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo. "It's wonderful to see you again," Naruhito said.

The two men met for about 30 minutes behind closed doors. When they emerged, Trump pointed to the emperor and said "great man, great man," before they shook hands again and the president departed.

The royal treatment is a variation on what has become an oft-repeated strategy in which hosts provide lavish receptions to soften up the visiting U.S. president, with the goal of winning relief from U.S. tariffs and lessening the demands that go with them.

The reception in Tokyo on Monday was more muted than on the 2019 trip to Japan when Trump was honored with a sumptuous state banquet at the palace.

On that visit, Trump received the full panoply of imperial hospitality, as the first foreign dignitary to be received by Naruhito following his ascendance to the throne, an honor engineered by then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that delighted Trump.

No such extravaganza is planned this week. But even a quiet meeting with the emperor suggests the Japanese know, like their counterparts in the U.K., how to wield their monarchy as a tool of statecraft.

"For someone like President Trump, who harbors a strong fascination with monarchies, a meeting with a monarch inherently signifies a high level of honor and good treatment," said Hideya Kawanishi, an associate professor at Nagoya University.

Trump has a well documented regard for British royalty and revels in the pomp and pageantry that surrounds it.

When he visited London last month, his hosts pulled out all the stops. King Charles III, Prince William and more than 1,500 soldiers welcomed Trump to Windsor Castle, the thousand-year-old redoubt of the British monarchy. Trump and the first lady were also treated to a ride in a horse-drawn carriage, an aerial display by Royal Air Force jets and a state banquet. Trump was the first U.S. president to have two such state visits organized in his honor, after a previous trip to Buckingham Palace in 2019.

The quiet welcome accorded Trump in Tokyo on Monday is in line with the nature of the trip to Japan, Trump's fourth as president, which is billed as a working visit.

Trade and security top the agenda. On Tuesday, Trump is set to meet with Sanae Takaichi, Japan's new prime minister, and visit the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka. He is also scheduled for a meeting at the U.S. Embassy with Akie Abe, the widow of Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, almost two years after leaving office.

Trump's relationship with Abe was seen as an anchor of warm ties between the U.S. and Japan during Trump's first term as president, and set a bar for subsequent Japanese leaders looking to maintain good relations with the U.S.

Trump, speaking to the media en route to Japan on Air Force One, said of Takaichi: "She was a great ally and friend of Shinzo Abe...That really helps Japan and the United States."

Relations between Tokyo and Washington have been strained by Trump's push to reorder global trade through tariffs, and there are unresolved questions about exactly how Japan's pledge to invest $550 billion in the U.S. will work. Another potential flashpoint is security, as the U.S. has been pushing allies to spend much more on defense.

But first, on Monday, Trump got the royal treatment.

"While U.S.-Japan relations may have some friction over issues like trade tariffs," said Kawanishi, "there is likely an aspect where the imperial family, as a form of 'soft power,' helps alleviate this tension."

Write to Jason Douglas at jason.douglas@wsj.com and Junko Fukutome at junko.fukutome@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2025 07:47 ET (11:47 GMT)

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