Rody: Japan closer than a brother
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe feasted on mung bean soup and kakanin (rice cakes) at the home of President Duterte yesterday, getting a first-hand look at the down-to-earth living of a volatile new friend who is shaking up the status quo in Asia.
With a backdrop of family photos, cups hanging from kitchen cabinets and clusters of used beer and wine bottles, Abe ate Duterte’s favorite breakfast in this city and was given a tour of his creaky two-story house, including the bedroom that featured the white mosquito net the President sleeps under on most weekends.
Nothing was renovated or newly constructed at Duterte’s house even when the Prime Minister’s visit was anticipated.
Duterte’s simple living is part of the man-of-the-people style that endeared him to millions of Filipino voters who in May favored an abrasive city mayor over wealthy politicians on a largely Manila-centric ballot.
Abe’s visit comes as the Philippines edges closer to becoming a geostrategic battleground, with China offering billions in loans and investments, as Duterte opts to befriend Beijing and avoid challenging its maritime claims while ramping up hostility toward historic ally Washington.
While Japan’s allies in the West ponder how to deal with the hot-headed new leader, Abe has formed a close bond with Duterte during the four times they have met.
“They had a very animated talk. It was in a relaxed mood when the Prime Minister came to the President’s house,” special assistant to the President Christopher Go told The STAR.
Posting several pictures on Facebook, Go said the visit lasted at least 45 minutes and described Abe’s disposition as “happy.”
The President previously said he treats Abe as “a friend closer than a brother.”
In his speech in Malacañang Thursday night, Duterte described the country’s friendship with Japan as one “whose value is beyond any measure.”
“Tonight, let me reiterate that Japan is a friend closer than a brother. That means Japan is a friend unlike any other,” Duterte said in his speech at Malacañang.
Abe described his being the first leader to visit Duterte this year as a “tremendous honor.”
President Duterte gives Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a tour of his Davao home, which started yesterday with (clockwise, from bottom left) breakfast followed by a glimpse of the view from the window, a taste of durian and a look at the presidential bed draped with a mosquito net. Special presidential assistant Christopher Go provided the photos.
“I chose the Philippines as my first destination this year and that is testament to my primary emphasis on our bilateral relationship,” the Prime Minister said.
Japan is one of the biggest investors in the Philippines, mainly in electronics, financial services and auto manufacturing, through firms that include Toyota, Mitsubishi and Canon.
Simple food
Honeylet Avanceña, Duterte’s partner, and an interpreter later joined Abe and the President at the dining table for breakfast.
Aside from mongo soup served with smoked fish and spinach, the table was filled with ripe mango, pomelo, rambutan, the ‘senyorita’ variety of bananas and durian. Coffee, black tea and buko (young coconut) juice were available, but Abe chose yogurt to go with his fruit and vegetable breakfast.
Katusuyuki Kawai, special adviser to the Prime Minister and a member of the House of Representatives, told The STAR that the Prime Minister is not really a heavy eater when it comes to breakfast.
After breakfast, the President and Abe proceeded to the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao for a series of engagements including a meet-and-greet with members of the local business community and the Japanese businessmen who were with the delegation of the Prime Minister and the ceremonial naming of a Philippine Eagle.
Avanceña and the Prime Minister’s wife Akie went to Barangay Mintal, considered the city’s Little Tokyo of pre-war Philippines, for a separate engagement that included a visit to the Japanese cemetery.
The village used to be the site of the largest concentration of Japanese nationals working at abaca plantations about a century ago.
Akie also visited the Monument of No Regret, which Duterte ordered built in 2013 when he was still the city’s mayor.
“President Duterte built a monument with his own money when he was still serving as the mayor of Davao City in honor of the friendship between Japan and the Philippines. The monument of no regret [Ureinashi No Hi] has a plaque inscribed with a Japanese message of Mr. President. In English, it says: ‘Every human being is my brother, my sister and my child’,” Abe said during the state dinner in Malacañang Thursday night.
Akie lighted a candle and prayed before one of the tombs and offered a wreath at the monument.
They all had lunch at the Waterfront Hotel Davao where they were served Imbao soup, pomelo and fern salad with avocado aioli and tuna belly in mangosteen glaze with corn grits. Their dessert included durian panna cotta with civet coffee jelly and one round of soda and Davao punch for drinks.
A whole tuna carved out for sashimi servings caught the Prime Minister’s attention that he even went to the tuna station to talk with Japanese chef Nobuyuku Imamura.
“Where did you get your tuna?” Abe asked Imamura, resident chef of Mizu Japanese restaurant in Waterfront Cebu Hotel, in Nihonggo.
Imamura told Abe that it came from General Santos City, about three hours away.
Bryan Lasala, manager of Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao, said that it was not hard to please the Prime Minister when it came to food.
“There really was no special request for anything. Whatever was served for him and the President was also served for everybody,” Lasala said.
In the afternoon, Abe and the President went to the Nikkei Jinkai Japanese School for a short visit.
The Prime Minister and his wife arrived in Davao City at around 9:45 p.m. Thursday night and left at a little past 12:20 p.m. yesterday for Sydney, Australia as part of his seven-day series of visits in various countries.