The Prime Minister's visit to Japan has kicked off on a surreal note involving two enormous dancing kiwifruit mascots.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern attended a Zespri kiwifruit event on Thursday marking the start of the 2022 kiwifruit sale season in Japan.
Ardern was welcomed by sombre music and the giant mascot duo, known as the 'kiwi brothers' who swayed side to side in time with the music.
It's not the first time the Prime Minister has met the brothers - she met the giant duo in 2019 on her last visit to Tokyo.
"The kiwi brothers I particularly remember, while they thankfully didn't make me dance, they did hold my hand,"
"That image brought such joy and delight to my office in New Zealand that to this day, the photo of my hand holding with the kiwi brothers still hangs in my office," she added.
Video shared on Twitter of the dancing mascots has left users amused.
"This is the sort of 1 pm briefing I can adapt to," one said.
"It's so beautiful."
“It sounds/looks like a lament. Is everyone OK?" One tweeter asked.
"I've never been more jealous," another wrote.
"Lmao how, what is even going on," one asked.
"I feel like the kiwifruit have gate crashed a funeral... I think I might request dancing kiwifruit at my funeral just to jolly things up a bit," another joked.
The kiwifruit fun didn't end there, Minister of Trade and Export Growth Damien O'Connor stood on a small stage in front of attendees and decorated a cake.
"The objective is to use as much kiwifruit as possible," O'Connor said.
O'Connor did just that and once finished received a round of applause.
To the side of O'Connor's cake decorating, Ardern tried her hand at calligraphy following a short lesson.
"It was wonderful to watch someone with such talent and expertise in calligraphy, write kiwifruit as it is intended," Ardern said.
Ardern joked saying it was unfair having only one go at calligraphy and insisted on giving it another go before the event ended.
"I'm concerned that perhaps this doesn't say kiwifruit," pointing to her first attempt.
Ardern tried again, saying her second attempt had marginally improved.
Other fun events on the agenda for the Japan trip include O'Connor driving a car and a sake barrel lid smashing ceremony.
