“Rarely have we laughed so much” swapping stories

(Excerpted from the autobiography of MDD Pieris)

At 8 a.m. next day, November 12, 1976. the State drive to the airport commenced. We took off for Tokyo. The flying time was around three hours 45 minutes, and we arrived at 1 p.m. According to the Japanese arrangements, the Prime Minister was met by the Head of the Suite of Honour, the Chief of Protocol, Ambassador Uchida and wife, as well as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador Bernard Tilakaratna and wife. The only ceremony at the airport was a gun salute.

The formal welcoming ceremony was to be held later. We were accommodated at the luxurious and opulent Akasaka Palace Hotel, with shining marble, rich brocades and ornate furniture. Some of us were assigned very large suites of rooms. The marble floors were so shiny that walking was somewhat of a hazard. We spent a quiet afternoon, settling in and getting our bearings. At 8 p.m. the Prime Minister was interviewed on Japanese TV, for which we prepared during the early evening. Thereafter, at 9 p.m. we went to Ambassador Bernard Tilakaratna’s for a relaxed private dinner.

The following day, the very colourful, formal, official welcoming ceremony took place at 10 a.m. out in the spacious courtyard of Akasaka Palace, with long red carpets, a smartly turned out guard of honour and a band playing the National Anthems. It was quite cold outside, uncomfortably so at times. The Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Miki and Mrs. Miki were present, and so were the diplomatic corps. The ceremony was over by 10.30 a.m. At 11 a.m. we left from Tokyo railway station, by the super express “Hikari” to Nagoya. Lunch was served on the train. At Nagoya we changed trains and at 3 p.m. arrived at Toba station in rain and gloom.

By 3.15 p.m. we were at Mikimoto Pearl Island. The Prime Minister was personally taken around by Mr. and Mrs. Mikimoto. We were shown the process of culturing pearls. The oyster is first delicately opened up. A small shard of skin taken from inside the oyster and a type of round oyster shell piece is placed within. The oysters are then tied to grids, and the grids immersed in water. After a period of three years the secretions of the oyster make a pearl, which is really a natural pearl, but artificially induced. All this was very interesting. Also fascinating was to see the women pearl divers in action. They were diving in fairly heavy rain and in the cold looking for oysters.

At around 4.45 p.m. we left the island for the Shima Kanko Hotel, about one hour’s drive on a picturesque winding mountain road, with a view of numerous small islands and the Pacific ocean below. The view was obscured somewhat by the rain. At 7.45 p.m. we had dinner at the hotel with Mr. & Mrs. Mikimoto.

The next day the 14th, it was still raining heavily. At 9.20 a.m. we left by train to Kyoto, a journey of about three hours. We were accommodated at the comfortable Miyako Hotel. The afternoon was free for sight-seeing. We were taken to see a silk weaving centre; a beautiful Japanese garden neatly laid out; ponds full of beautiful multi-coloured fish; Temples; and Kyoto Palace, a one time residence of emperors. The Palace was quite spartan in appearance. There was little ostentation or opulence. Wood was the predominant building material and the inside was somewhat gloomy. The white pebbled courtyards were simple and attractive.

We got back to the hotel around 5.30 p.m. At 7.30 p.m. the Chief of Protocol, Ambassador Uchida and wife, who had accompanied us took the Prime Minister and us to an excellent restaurant where we had varieties of Japanese food. We got back at 10 p.m. and Ambassador Uchida invited Arthur Basnayake, Bernard Tilakaratna and myself to go out and have a drink at a Geisha house. He wanted us to have this cultural experience, before we left Japan. It fell to my lot to inform the Prime Minister that we were going out. “Alright, but don’t get late, and don’t go to a geisha house!” she added humorously.

Ambassador Uchida and a couple of other senior Japanese officials took us to a geisha house. We removed our shoes at the entrance, and got into a comfortable pair of slippers. The lady in-charge dressed in an elaborately patterned Kimono, stylistically done hair and heavily touched up face bowed and received us. She led us to a room with subdued lighting, tatami mats and low tables, with cushions placed on the mats around the tables. A number of elaborately made up ladies dressed in traditional silk kimonos bowed and greeted us here, and they acted as hostesses until we left a little past midnight.

We spent only about one and half hours there. But it was an experience worth having. The ladies helped us to remove our jackets, and they loosened our ties to make us comfortable. We sat on the cushions and was soon sipping sake, the Japanese rice wine, and eating some delicious food served in small quantities by our hostesses. The senior Japanese officials with us were much traveled and experienced. They spoke perfect English, and the time was spent in relating a number of humorous anecdotes and experiences by everyone, some bordering on the risque.

Seldom had we laughed so much. The anecdotes were interspersed with witty remarks and irreverent comments. In the meantime, our hostesses, who were seated by our sides, gently saw to it that we ate and drank. After about 40 minutes of this, the room lights gradually dimmed, to near darkness, and a kimono clad figure appeared with some kind of classical string musical instrument, which she played whilst singing a plaintive and haunting song. It was a well-designed break from our uproarious exchanges, and was meant to slow the tempo and afford us relaxation on a different plane.

After the song, the lights brightened again and we resumed our chatter. But it was interesting, that we took awhile to transit from serenity and song, back to our previous mode of conduct. Altogether, it was a delightful evening. We had laughed so much, that we were sweating. The food and drink were excellent, and the ladies attending to us, concerned and diligent hostesses. This whole episode exemplified an important aspect of Japanese life style at a particular level.

They work very hard and long. At the same time, their culture and their practices provide them with opportunities to completely take their mind off work and relax totally. During the entire one and half-hours of socializing, not once did anyone refer to anything official, other than to satirize or lampoon. We were not there to discuss grave issues. We were there to enjoy ourselves.

The next morning, November 15, we had to make an early start, and take the 8.05 a.m. train from Kyoto to Tokyo. The Prime Minister had a very good memory, and in the morning when we met her in the lobby of the hotel just prior to our departure for the station, she remembered to ask “So how was last night?” We replied that it was most enjoyable. “What time did you return?” was the next question. We told her. But whilst answering that question our minds were working on an answer to a possible third question, as to where we went. That question did not come, but we wondered whether we detected a twinkle in her eyes.

Kyoto to Tokyo was a three-hour journey. En route the Prime Minister discussed with us details pertaining to that afternoon’s official meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister. But before that meeting, the Prime Minister and some of us had a most important luncheon engagement. It was with Emperor Hirohito, the Empress, and other members of the Royal family and some distinguished guests. Having arrived back at Akasaka Palace Hotel at 11.20 a.m., the Prime Minister, Ambassador Bernard Tilakaratna, Mackie and I left for the Imperial Palace at 12.20 p.m. Only the Prime Minister and the Ambassador attended the audience with the Emperor.

We were ushered into a hall, where two distinguished invitees in long frock coats were already there, the Chief Justice and the Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, (The Diet). In due course, we were all introduced to the Emperor and Empress and the other members of the Royal family who sat for lunch with us. They were Crown Prince Akihito, Princess Michiko and Prince Mikasa, and his wife. Prince Mikasa had earlier visited Sri Lanka as a special envoy during the Buddha Jayanthi Celebrations in 1956.

The other distinguished Japanese invitees besides the Chief Justice and the Speaker, were the Prime Minister Mr. Miki, the Foreign Minister and the President of the Senate. It was a formal, subdued lunch, with polite conversation in soft modulated voices.

We got back at 3 p.m. and almost immediately afterwards left for the Prime Minister’s office for talks with the Japanese Prime Minister at 3.30 p.m. The discussions, as usual covered both bilateral and international issues, and were conducted in an atmosphere of great cordiality. We were back at the hotel at 5.30 p.m. and had a short break before dressing for dinner. At 7.30 p.m. Prime Minister Miki hosted a banquet in honour of the Prime Minister at his residence.

Whilst dressing to attend this, I found to my consternation that my dress shirt had come back from the laundry, with two buttons missing and a third wobbly. The two bows that I had packed also proved to be defective. There was nothing else to be done except to prop up things with judiciously placed pins, which took time and effort, with the departure deadline approaching. I had a most uncomfortable evening, thereafter, wondering what would happen every time I bowed, in a milieu where a great deal of bowing was mandatory.

To my great relief, the evening passed without a major disaster, but with stress as a companion. I was particularly concerned about the prospect of the bow ending up in the soup with a loud plop and endangering my clothes, as well as possibly my distinguished neighbours! We got back at 10.30 p.m. and as was customary, worked with my senior colleagues on the day’s cables to Colombo, the Joint Communique and other matters. We finally, went to sleep at 1.15 a.m. after a particularly long and eventful day.

The new day, the 16th, which had already dawned was not as hectic as the previous one. There were however some important appointments. The lunch hosted by the Economic Organization of Japan gave the Prime Minister an opportunity to talk to a number of industrialists and businessmen. There followed at 4.30 p.m. an Embassy reception to meet Sri Lankans living and working in Japan. At 6.15 p.m. we were at the National Theatre and watched a part of a Kabuki play. We got back at 8 p.m. and after dinner, the senior official team got down to some extended work on a number of matters, which included an important opening statement for the Prime Minister’s press conference, the next day, refining the language and adjusting the content of the draft joint communique between the two governments; and finalizing cables to Colombo. We finished only at 2.30 a.m., which meant another day of little sleep.

Later this day November 17, there was a further round of talks between the two Prime Ministers commencing at 9.15 a.m. At this meeting, Japan pledged increased grant and project aid. The sessions concluded at 10.30 a.m. We then accompanied the Prime Minister to a 10.45 a.m. reception hosted in her honour by the Japanese Buddhist Federation. After lunch, at the hotel we accompanied the Prime Minister to the Nippon Press Centre for a 4 p.m. Press Conference. It went quite smoothly, and without any problems. We got back at 5.30 p.m. for a short rest, and then came down for the 8 p.m. formal black tie dinner hosted by the Prime Minister in honour of Prime Minister Miki and Mrs. Miki, held at the plush banqueting hall of Akasaka Palace Hotel.

This was our final day in Japan, and after dinner the Prime Minister and all of us exchanged views and attempted to sum up our experience and what had been achieved in Japan. I went back to my room afterwards, and drafted the Cabinet Paper on the entire visit to the three countries. I had made this both a practice and habit, for two main reasons. The first was my belief in the necessity for promptness. The second was the more practical issue of the load of work you were going home to.

Although acting arrangements were always made, and I had a person of the calibre of WT Jayasinghe acting for me, yet the convention and practice were that important matters, unless urgent were kept back, for the permanent incumbent to tackle. Therefore, it was also a matter of practical good sense that you covered as much ground as possible of issues related to a foreign visit, before you arrived home to an accelerated period of work. You then only had to attend to the inevitable area of the follow up on certain matters, which every visit entailed.

On the 18th, our last morning in Japan, there was heavy rain. Therefore, the formal departure ceremony which was to be in the Palace courtyard, was shifted indoors to a large hall at Akasaka Palace. The guard of honour; the band; the flags of the two countries and the distinguished invitees were all accommodated in this hall. After the arrival of Prime Minister Miki and wife, the ceremony began. The band sounded very loud indoors. At 9. 30 a.m. we left Tokyo, by the British Airways flight to Colombo via Hong Kong. On the flight, I showed the draft of the Cabinet Paper, which was rather long to the Prime Minister and obtained her approval.