Article by: Miku Kudo

Japanese and Korean leaders' unstoppable appetite Sukiyaki, omelet rice, etc.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Sung-yeol visited two long-established restaurants in Ginza, Tokyo on the evening of the 16th and had a dinner party. The 65-year-old prime minister and the 62-year-old Mr. Yun had an unstoppable appetite, eating sukiyaki, omelet rice, hamburgers, pork cutlets, etc., and drinking sake together.

After 7:30 p.m., the two leaders, accompanied by their wives, visited Yoshizawa, a sukiyaki restaurant founded in 1924, for nearly an hour and a half. According to those close to the prime minister, they toasted with beer, drank sake and sukiyaki, and ended with Inaniwa udon.

After that, the two leaders went to an unusual second party at the long-established Western restaurant "Renga-tei". They took off their jackets and ties and ordered omelet rice, which is Yun's favorite food, as well as tonkatsu, hamburgers, hayashi rice, and cheese. I stayed for about 50 minutes while drinking beer and shochu.

At the Brick Pavilion, the two discussed the famous Japanese eating-and-walking drama "Solo no Gourmet" (Solitary Gourmet), of which Yun is a fan.

Normally, dinners with foreign leaders are held at the prime minister's official residence, but this time "there was information that Mr. Yun had been to Ginza many times in the past, so we took into account the wishes of the Korean side," according to a source close to the prime minister. Mr. Yun had visited Japan as a child, accompanying his father who studied at Hitotsubashi University.