White House Dinner for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi

On March 19, 2026, the White House held a dinner honoring Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The menu was carrot ginger velouté, Maine lobster au gratin with corn puree and asparagus, and strawberry and vanilla cream gateau. 

Only one celebrity attended. This was Japanese golf legend Mr. Hideki Matsuyama, Otherwise attendees were CEOs of major American companies, senior government officials, and two full-time lobbyists who are Trump loyalists. Only three Japanese CEOs of American operations were at the dinner: Mitsubishi, Hitachi, and Toyota. Masayoshi Son, SoftBank Group CEO and founder, was the only corporate head leading from Japan.

Notably, there was not one State, Defense or Commerce official tasked with or expert in Japan or the Indo-Pacific. There were no American second tier officials to match with their Japanese counterparts who were present at the dinner. 

Scholars, think tankers, and nonprofit executives expert on Japan who "manage" the relationship were also not present. It is very unusual to have such a dinner without attendees familiar with Japanese politics, economy, culture, and history.

Takaichi cleverly used a male interpretor to project power to Trump. He heard a strong male voice in "her" comments. The President had a woman interpretor, whose high-pitched voice subtly diminished him to the Japanese. She was, however, likely to have made Trump more understandable to Takaichi. 

Full guest list for White House dinner for the Japanese prime minister

1 The President of the United States Donald Trump

2 Her Excellency TAKAICHI Sanae, Prime Minister of Japan

3 Mr. Andrew Abboud, Las Vegas Sands Corp. Vice President of Government Affairs

4 Dr. Miriam Adelson, spouse of the late Sheldon Adelson, founder Las Vegas Sands Corp

5 Mr. AKAHORI Takeshi, Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs

6 His Excellency AKAZAWA Ryosei, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry

7 Mr. Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International

8 Mr. Cristiano Amon, CEO and president, Qualcomm

9 Mr. ARAI Masayoshi, Director-General, Trade Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

10 Mr. ARIMA Yutaka, Director-General, Foreign Policy Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

11 The Honorable Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury

12 The Honorable James Blair, White House, Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Political and Public Affairs

13 The Honorable Pam Bondi, Attorney General

14 Mr. Greg Brockman and Mrs. Anna Brockman, OpenAI co-founder.

15 The Honorable Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior

16 The Honorable Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Secretary of Labor

17 The Honorable Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation

18 Mr. Larry Fink, BlackRock CEO;

19 The Honorable George Glass, Ambassador of the United States to Japan and Mrs. Amy Glass

20 Mr. David Goeckeler, Sandisk CEO;

21 The Honorable Jamieson Greer, United States Trade Representative

22 The Honorable Bill Hagerty, United States Senator from Tennessee and Mrs. Christine Hagerty

23 Mr. HAYASHI Makoto, Executive Secretary to the Prime Minister

24 The Honorable Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War

25 Mr. ICHIKAWA Keiichi, National Security Advisor

26 Mr. IIDA Yuji, Executive Secretary to the Prime Minister

27 Mr. IIJIMA Isao, Special Advisor to the Cabinet, noted Japanese political fixer

28 Mr. Takajiro Ishikawa, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America

29 Mr. KANO Koji, Vice Minister of Defense for International Affairs

30Dr. Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir

31 Mr. Arvind Krishna, IBM CEO

32 Mr. KUMAGAI Naoki, Director General of the North American Affairs Bureau in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

33 The Honorable Kelly Loeffler, Administrator of the Small Business Administration

34 Mr. Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril

35 The Honorable Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce

36 Mr. MATANO Motosada, Director-General, Economic Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

37 Mr. Hideki Matsuyama, first Asian to win the Masters

38 The Honorable Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education

39 Mr. Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron CEO

40 Mr. Michael Miebach, CEO Mastercard

41 Mr. Jason Miller, lobbyist, SHW Partners, Trump adviser

42 Mr. Jeff Miller, lobbyist, Miller Strategies, former Republican Representative from Florida

43 The Honorable Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security

44 Mr. MIMURA Atsushi, Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs, Ministry of Finance

45 His Excellency MOTEGI Toshimitsu, Minister of Foreign Affairs

46 Mr. NAMAZU Hiroyuki, Senior Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan

47 Mr. Michael Needham, 37th Counselor of the U.S. Department of State and Director of Policy Planning.

48 Mr. Tetsuo Ogawa, President and Chief Executive Officer, Toyota Motor North America, Inc.

49 Mr. Kelly Ortberg, Boeing CEO

50 Mr. OZAKI Masanao, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary

51 Mr. Sundar Pichai, Google CEO

52 Mr. Ted Pick, CEO Morgan Stanley

53 The Honorable James Risch, United States Senator from Idaho and Mrs. Vicki Risch

54 Mr. Horacio Rozanski, president and CEO Booz Allen Hamilton

55 The Honorable Marco Rubio, Secretary of State

56 Mr. SAIKI Kozo, Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs

57 Mr. Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer and executive vice president, Palantir

58 Mr. Masayoshi Son, SoftBank Group CEO 

59 Mr. James Taiclet, CEO Lockheed Martin

60 Mr. TAKAZAWA Yoshinori, Director, First North America Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

61 Mr. Charlie Takeuchi, Vice President and Executive Officer of Hitachi Ltd., and President & CEO of Hitachi Americas

62 Mr. Hock Tan, Broadcom CEO

63 The Honorable Scott Turner, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

64 The Vice President of the United States

65 The Honorable Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget

66 The Honorable Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy

67 His Excellency YAMADA Shigeo, Ambassador of Japan to the United States of America

68 The Honorable Lee Zeldin, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency