After arriving at Haneda airport on Wednesday evening, U.S. President Barack Obama was whisked to Ginza for a "casual dinner" with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the modest yet widely revered sushi restaurant  Sukiyabashi Jiro.

In terms of entertaining visiting heads of state, it was clearly a step up from 2002, when former U.S. President George Bush dined with then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at Roppongi's Gonpachi.

The humble Jiro's, located in a basement next to the subway Ginza Station, doesn't compare to the retrofitted Edo style of Gonpachi, but it makes up for that with sushi that has garnered the highest gourmet accolade.