Japan on high alert ahead of Trump’s 4-day visit from Saturday

May 23, 2019

Tokyo--The Japanese government is making full-fledged preparations to receive U.S. President Donald Trump as a state guest from Saturday, with the Tokyo metropolitan area on high alert for terror attacks and other emergencies.

A ban has been issued for drone flights over locations to be visited by Trump during his four-day stay in Japan until Tuesday. A number of police officers will be deployed at airports and on busy streets.

Trump and his wife, Melania, are scheduled to arrive in Tokyo on Saturday afternoon as Japan's first state guests since the country's new era, Reiwa, started on May 1, when new Japanese Emperor Naruhito ascended to the throne.

The U.S. president and first lady will stay at Palace Hotel Tokyo, near the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda Ward in the Japanese capital. Trump will be the first U.S. president to visit Japan as a state guest since his predecessor, Barack Obama, came to the country for a three-day stay in April 2014.

"It's important to thoroughly demonstrate Japan's close ties with the United States, in light of relations with China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia," a senior official of Japan's Foreign Ministry said, noting that Trump will stay in Japan for as long as four days.

On Sunday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is scheduled to play golf with Trump at a golf course in the city of Mobara, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, sharing a round for the fifth time. Japanese professional golf player Isao Aoki is expected to join the round.

Trump is set to watch final-day matches of the ongoing 15-day summer grand professional sumo tournament at the Ryogoku Kokugikan arena in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon, before attending an informal dinner party with Abe and his wife, Akie, at a "robatayaki" Japanese-style grill restaurant in Tokyo's Roppongi district later in the day.

Abe and Trump will hold official summit talks at the State Guest House Akasaka Palace in Tokyo from Monday morning. The two leaders are set to hold a joint press conference on Monday afternoon.

Also on the day, Trump will meet with Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace and attend an Imperial banquet.

On Tuesday, Abe and Trump will board and inspect the Izumo-class destroyer Kaga of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force at the Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.

Izumo-class destroyers, including the Kaga, are slated to be transformed into de facto aircraft carriers to host U.S.-made F-35B cutting-edge stealth fighters.

Through Trump's visit to Japan, Abe wants to further deepen his relationship with the U.S. leader and show off the strong Japan-U.S. alliance to the world, informed sources said.

Meanwhile, Abe and Trump are unlikely to issue a joint statement after the bilateral summit as the Japanese side apparently hopes to avoid detailed talks on trade, according to the sources. Jiji Press