Sen. Daniel Inouye and his wife, Irene Hirano, will be among guests to a dinner that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is hosting in honor of Japan’s prime minister Monday night, a spokesman for Inouye told DC808. 

In a statement welcoming Yoshihiko Noda, Inouye acknowledged that “these are challenging times” for Japan and the Asia Pacific, and called the U.S.-Japan relationship among the most important in the world. 

“I have watched our relationship with Japan evolve from the aftermath of World War II to a productive partnership with the world’s third largest economy,” Inouye said. “At this time there are 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan and we continue to renegotiate and adjust our military alliance to ensure that we strike a balance between regional security and the changing needs of the Japanese people.”  

The senator reiterated his and Hirano’s commitment to bolstering the United States’ partnership with Japan. Hirano is president of the U.S.-Japan Council, a nonprofit that focuses on building people-to-people relationships between the U.S. and Japan. 

The dinner is set to begin at 7 p.m. at the National Geographic Museum, according to the State Department.