Trump tees up Japan summit with Abe golf match

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U.S. President Donald Trump and "golf buddy" Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe teed off for a round of their favorite sport Sunday before heading to the sumo, as the two leaders cement a close diplomatic friendship.

Under a cloudless sky with sizzling temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), the two world leaders hit the fairway at the Mobara Country Club course in Chiba, just outside Tokyo.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe play golf at Mobara Country Club in Mobara, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, May 26, 2019. /Reuters Photo

Aerial footage on Japanese television showed the pair practicing their swings and driving off the tee, as well as putting on the manicured greens, accompanied by former professional golfer Isao Aoki.

As Trump's Marine One helicopter thundered in, shattering the serenity of the course, a casual-looking Abe was there to greet him, sporting white trousers and a blue top. Trump was dressed in a red sweater and black trousers with a red USA cap.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe play golf at Mobara Country Club in Mobara, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, May 26, 2019. /Reuters Photo

Abe later tweeted a selfie of the two grinning into the camera, as the pair relaxed before the formal element of Trump's four-day trip begins on Monday with a visit to the new emperor and talks likely to touch on trade and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

And Pyongyang was clearly on Trump's mind before he hit the green, as he took to Twitter in an apparent bid to ease mounting tensions with the DPRK, which has conducted two missile tests after a February summit in Hanoi collapsed without an agreement.

Dismissing the missiles as "some small weapons," he said the tests had "disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me."

Trump said: "I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me." The American president maintains that the DPRK leader Kim Jong Un had pledged he was serious about denuclearization although experts say there is still a wide gulf between the two sides over what that means exactly.

After golf, he tweeted that "great progress" was being made in the negotiations but "much will wait" until after Japanese upper house elections expected in July.

'Incredible evening': Trump watches sumo wrestling

The U.S president also spent "an incredible evening" watching the Japanese national sport of sumo on Sunday, although the visit left some wrestling fans grumbling over tight security.

"I've always wanted to see sumo wrestling, so that was really great," Trump said at the start of a dinner with Abe, accompanied by his wife, Melania, and Abe's wife Akie, just after the match.

"That was an incredible evening."

U.S. President Donald Trump presents the United States President's Cup to wrestler Asanoyama at Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan, May 26, 2019. /Reuters Photo

About 1,000 of the 11,000 seats in the Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Hall, including some of the most expensive, were reserved for Trump, Abe and their security teams.

U.S. and Japanese secret security agents paced through the venue hours before Trump's arrival and lined the hallways that take the wrestlers to the ring, while ordinary fans had to pass through metal detectors and take a sip of any beverages they brought with them in front of security.

Trump presented the 25-year-old tournament winner Asanoyama with a custom-made trophy called the United States President's Cup - a set of wooden stairs fitted to the side of the raised sumo ring to make it easy for him to ascend for the prize-giving.

On Monday, the serious diplomacy begins, with Trump set to be the first foreign leader to meet Japan's new emperor, Naruhito, who ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne at the beginning of the month after his father's abdication, the first in more than 200 years.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe greets U.S. President Donald Trump at Mobara Country Club in Mobara, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, May 26, 2019. /Reuters Photo

The United States and Japan, the world's largest and third-biggest economies respectively, are also in the process of negotiating a delicate trade deal. Trump wasted little time upon arrival in attacking what he sees as an imbalanced trade relationship, vowing it would become "a little bit more fair" after a deal was inked.

Trump's top trade representative Robert Lighthizer spent more than two hours locked in talks with his Japanese counterpart, Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Saturday night but there was no sign of a breakthrough.

"Our understanding on our positions and the way we think further deepened" after the meeting, Motegi told reporters. "But it doesn't mean our positions are in perfect harmony. We agreed to make efforts to fill in the gap," he said, without giving more precise details.

(Cover: Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe poses for a selfie with U.S. President Donald Trump at Mobara Country Club in Mobara, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, May 26, 2019. /Reuters Photo)

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters