WASHINGTON—Caroline Kennedy is huge in Japan – and she hasn’t even gone there yet.
On the day late President Kennedy’s daughter got sworn in as the new U.S. ambassador to Japan, the Japanese feted her with a saki toast and even warmer words at their embassy in D.C., while a string quartet serenaded her with “Sweet Caroline.”
“She will be loved by the Japanese people,” Japanese Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae told the Post Tuesday. “They will appreciate her style and humble attitude.”
About 500 guests jammed the Japanese embassy in D.C., and even Secretary of State John Kerry remarked on the traffic jam outside – joking that Caroline must’ve “invited the entire Kennedy family.”
Maria Shriver, Kathleen Kennedy-Townshend, Mark Shriver and other Kennedy family members mingled with Alan Greenspan and State Department big shots.
Caroline Kennedy stuck to the script – even reading from notes during her formal toast to guests, where she looked down repeatedly, read Japanese poetry and spoke a few words in Japanese.
When she made brief remarks to the press, Japanese Embassy handlers told reporters not to ask questions. When a few did – about trade and the Phillipines – Kennedy briefly paused, then walked away without answering.
Continuing the love-fest Tuesday night, two young Japanese girls read Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” in an homage to Kennedy’s father, who was slain almost 50 years ago, and had the poem read at his inaugural.
Kerry, Kennedy’s new boss, said he’s known Caroline Kennedy since she was 4 ½, when he once made her cry when he stepped on her foot. Kerry said when Kennedy gets to Japan, “All the baseball teams will sing ‘Sweet Caroline.'”