Obama 'ate only half' the sushi course

But a report Thursday said instead of making small talk and savouring Japanese delicacies at Sukiyabashi Jiro -- dubbed the world's best sushi restaurant and the subject of the 2011 documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" -- Obama jumped straight into discussions about trade.

The owner of a yakitori (grilled chicken) restaurant that sits in the same basement as the exclusive diner told Tokyo Broadcasting System that Obama had put his chopsticks down at the halfway point.

The man said a sushi chef from the restaurant told him the leaders' chat was quite formal, the broadcaster said.

Unlike Obama, Abe munched the whole way through the offerings from 88-year-old legend Jiro Ono, who serves around 20 pieces of sushi one by one at the customer's pace, it said.

Obama's more of a Kobe beef guy.