Washington (AFP) - When you want to impress guests, it helps to have Moon rockets and superstar singer-songwriters on call -- and US President Joe Biden has both.

Biden pulled out all the stops as he hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a gala state visit at the White House on Wednesday focused on countering a rising China.

As he sought to build a bridge over the troubled waters of Asia-Pacific geopolitics, Biden made a series of highly symbolic gestures for key ally Kishida.

Paul Simon

Legendary folk-rocker Paul Simon performed for the Kishidas after the state dinner, the latest in a series of iconic musicians to play for foreign leaders at the White House.

Wearing a black suit and tie but with his top button undone, the 82-year-old icon strummed his way through a series of hits, starting with his 1986 classic "Graceland."

The audience applauded Simon at the end of the song -- while movie star Robert De Niro could be seen trying to find a seat just before the gig in the State Dining Room.

The White House said First Lady Jill Biden chose Simon as a tribute because the Japanese premier shared her appreciation for the artist, who's also known for songs such as "Sound of Silence" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" as part of a duo with Art Garfunkel.

- Lavish dinner -

The Bidens treated Kishida, his wife Yuko and 200 other guests to a lavish state dinner in the gilt-trimmed East Room of the White House, featuring modern American cuisine with Japanese flavors.

For starters, there was house-cured salmon, avocados, red grapefruit, watermelon radish, cucumber and shiso leaf fritters -- all done in the style of a California roll sushi.

The main course was dry-aged rib eye steak with blistered shishito pepper butter and for dessert there's salted caramel pistachio cake with matcha ganache, cherry ice cream, raspberry drizzle -- with a garnish of cherry blossom petals.

  Fly me to the Moon

The two leaders were keen to show US-Japan relations soaring to new heights -- and nowhere was that clearer than Biden's announcement that a Japanese person will be the first non-American to walk on the Moon.

Under NASA's Artemis program, the United States has set a goal of returning humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972.

US-Japan "ties stretch up to the Moon where two Japanese astronauts will join future American missions, and one will become the first non-American ever to land on the Moon," Biden said during a press conference with Kishida.

Only 12 people have walked on the Moon, all of them Americans and all white men.

Star Trek

Kishida stuck to the theme in his toast for the state dinner, quoting the cult 1960s US television show Star Trek. 

"Let me conclude with a line from Star Trek, which you all know -- to boldly go where no one has gone before," he said, quoting the main title sequence to the show.

"I would like to propose a toast to our voyage to the frontier of the US-Japan relationship with these words -- boldly go!"

He also noted the Japanese heritage of star George Takei, who played crew member Hikaru Sulu.

Cherry blossom

Both Biden and Kishida went heavy on the symbolism of cherry blossoms, the evanescent springtime flowers beloved both by the Japanese and Washingtonians.

Japan sent over 3,000 cherry blossom trees to the United States just over a century ago and they still line the US capital's scenic Tidal Basin.

Tokyo will now send another 250 to replace some that are being chopped down in Washington as part of an embankment rehabilitation project.

"I am confident that the cherry blossom-like bond of the Japan-US alliance will continue to grow even bigger and stronger," Kishida said.

The tables for the state dinner also featured cherry blossom branches, among other flowers.