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G7 Foreign Ministers Celebrate Birthday of U.S., French Colleagues

Pool Photo via AP
From left, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani arrive at Karuizawa Station in Nagano Prefecture for the G7 meeting on Sunday.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:37 JST, April 17, 2023

KARUIZAWA, Nagano Prefecture — Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven took the occasion of their working dinner to celebrate the birthdays of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Sunday in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture.

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi presented each of the ministers with an apple pie from the town’s Mampei Hotel, where John Lennon was a regular guest in the 1970s.

Foreign Ministry handout via Reuters
The G7 foreign ministers pose in the bullet train heading to Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, for their meeting on Sunday.

According to government sources, the foreign ministers also serenaded Blinken and Colonna with a singing of the “Happy Birthday” song on the shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo to Karuizawa earlier in the day.

Both Hayashi and Blinken are known to be big fans of The Beatles. Hayashi played Lennon’s “Imagine” on the piano at the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Britain in 2021.