U.S.-produced wagyu beef, a sensitive item in trade talks with Japan, and mochi dessert will be among the dishes served at a White House banquet to welcome Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday.
The appetizer, featuring smoked salmon and Caesar salad, will also have a Japanese twist — wrapped in clear acetate, it will be tied with traditional mizuhiki four-color cords used for celebrations.
The White House showed the press part of the menu and the table setting a day before U.S. President Barack Obama will host Abe in the East Room for a post-talks banquet.
Abe arrived in the United States on Sunday.
The participants will toast Abe's visit with Dassai, sake from a brewery in his political home base of Yamaguchi Prefecture. Abe presented Obama with the sake when the president visited Tokyo last year.
American wagyu will feature in the main course. Japan and the United States have been at odds over wagyu and other types of beef in bilateral talks on tariffs on agricultural produce in the framework of the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade initiative involving 12 countries.
Abekawa mochi, a bite-sized sweet covered with sweetened bean powder, will be served for dessert.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, will host Abe and his wife, Akie, with new plates colored a "Kailua" blue, a name inspired by the color of the sea in the president's home state of Hawaii, according to the White House.
Cristeta Comerford, White House executive chef, and Masaharu Morimoto, a Japanese professional cook who appeared in the "Iron Chef" TV show, contributed to the banquet, it said.