Japanese PM’s Wife to Meet Jill Biden in April

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's wife, Yuko Kishida, is set to visit Washington in April and meet US first lady Jill Biden, Japanese government sources revealed on Wednesday.

Yuko received an invitation from the US side, according to the source. It is unusual for a Japanese Prime minister’s wife to visit Washington alone.

When President Biden went to Tokyo in May 2022, he expressed his desire to make Yuko come to the US and meet his wife.

Yuko accompanied her husband to Washington in January but she was not able to meet the American First Lady back then, as she was undergoing medical treatment.

During their meeting at the White House, Biden hailed Japan for its “historic” increase in defense spending and pledged close cooperation on economic and security matters.

“We meet at a remarkable moment,” Biden told Kishida. “The more difficult job is trying to figure out how and where we disagree.”

Kishida said the two nations “share fundamental values such as democracy and the rule of law” and stressed that their joint role on the global stage “is becoming even greater.”