TOKYO — As the president might say, the room was half full.

Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and adviser, was the much-heralded guest at a government-sponsored conference on women’s empowerment in Tokyo on Friday, just two days before President Trump’s scheduled arrival here on his first stop of an Asia tour.

Yet Ms. Trump spoke to a room with so many empty seats that ushers hustled to move audience members forward several rows in the minutes before she walked to the podium.

The lukewarm turnout on Friday morning contrasted with the breathless coverage of her visit by the Japanese news media, which followed Ms. Trump’s every move around Tokyo and treated her landing at Narita International Airport and dinner at a luxurious restaurant on Thursday night as major news. The Japanese police touted the formation of a special squad of female officers to guard Ms. Trump during her visit, and the Foreign Ministry ran a lottery for admission to her speech at the Prince Hotel, near the foot of Tokyo Tower.

Josh Raffel, a White House spokesman, said Ms. Trump’s speech “was the most registered event” at the conference “but security delayed everyone from being able to get into the room on time.”