There's Good Rockin' Tonight

The evening's motif had a cool, light summery feel. Laura Bush wore a taupe-colored Bill Blass gown overlaid with chantilly lace hand-painted with cherry blossoms. The 64-year-old prime minister is divorced and did not bring a date. The 134 guests were seated in the State Dining Room at 13 tables with green silk tablecloths and green cymbidium orchids atop clear glass cylinders as centerpieces, with the gold-banded china set selected by the Clintons.

The menu was a "perfect marriage" of American and Japanese cuisine, said Cris Comerford, the White House chef. "Japanese cuisine puts a lot of emphasis on seasonality," she added, "and we want to honor that by using the best seasonal products we have." The menu began with Maryland she-crab soup; and jicama and cucumber chiffonade with lemon vinaigrette. The dessert was called Sweet Serenity and looked like an elaborate bonsai garden with a chocolate tree on a base of kumquat-stuffed cherries. Comerford said the menu was selected before Japan lifted its ban on U.S. beef last week, so Kobe beef from Japanese cattle raised in Texas was used for the main course.

Asked to choose between Japanese beef and American beef, guest Masaharu Morimoto, the Iron Chef himself, said: "Well, it depends. But Japanese beef is more expensive. I think I like American beef better."

The 24-year-old Olympian Ohno was attending his first White House dinner and said he went online to research dinner-partner etiquette, but still had one question. "Where do I turn after each course? To the right, the left?" (You switch after every course.)

After dinner, the guests moved to the East Room for the music of the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Setzer, who wore a silver skull-and-bones bolero, promised a couple of Elvis songs from the 1950s. "We're gonna rock this house," he said before dinner, and he did.

The 17-piece orchestra strode in wearing red shirts and leopard-print jackets and launched into a boisterous rendition of "Jump Jive an' Wail," followed by "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Stray Cat Strut." The president obviously was having a swell time; Koizumi watched everything intently.

An aide to the prime minister whispered in his ear and Koizumi whispered in Bush's ear. Then Japanese country-western musician Shoji Tabuchi jumped onstage with a fiddle and began playing western swing. He turned to Koizumi and said, "You requested country music. How about hoe-down music?" As Tabuchi played, the prime minister bolted from his seat to adjust the musician's mike.

Koizumi was thisclose to jumping onstage himself, but it was bedtime for Bush. The president thanked the musicians, then said cheerily, "Ready to go to bed?" He added, "Off to Graceland."

When Bush and Koizumi board Air Force One tomorrow on their way to Elvis's shrine, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will come along.

"Memphis . . .," Frist said wistfully. "There's no city in the world that will have a president of the United States, a prime minister from another country and a king."