Friends from Japan asked me to talk to the people of Japan directly in Japanese. I also thank them for helping with the the translation. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 28, 2014

@narendramodi India has a special place in my heart. I am eagerly waiting for your arrival in Kyoto this weekend. — (@AbeShinzo) August 28, 2014

Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

NEW DELHI: When PM Narendra Modi visits Japan, his counterpart Shinzo Abe will give him a rare honour. Abe will host a traditional Japanese tea ceremony , or chanoyu , for Modi in Tokyo on Monday.Abe will also host a banquet for Modi but the Japanese tea ceremony, used as a political tool by Japanese leaders in the past, is considered much more significant and is reserved for special guests. Modi is likely to be offered matcha — a powdered green tea — which is one of Abe's favourite drinks.As another special gesture, Abe will fly to Kyoto to meet Modi on Saturday and will host a dinner for him there. Ahead of his departure for Japan, Modi on Thursday took to tweeting in Japanese about his visit saying he was extremely excited about his trip and also the opportunity to meet his counterpart. Modi's tweets were actually a translation of his earlier ones in English.“Friends from Japan asked me to talk to the people of Japan directly in Japanese. I also thank them for helping with the translation," he tweeted.Abe tweeted back on Thursday saying he was eagerly awaiting Modi’s arrival in Kyoto. “Your first visit to Japan as Indian PM will add a new chapter to our strategic partnership. Together, we can do a lot for peace and prosperity in the world," Abe’s tweet said.Modi will start his five-day visit to Japan on Saturday. He will visit Kyoto before arriving in Tokyo late on Sunday.While explaining why Modi chose Kyoto as his first stopover for the visit, foreign ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said that as a smart city, which was modern and had yet preserved its cultural heritage, Kyoto fitted into Modi's own vision of building 100 smart cities in the country.“The Prime Minister's visit to Japan will be extremely substantive ... It will have wide range of events. Our expectations about the outcome are that India and Japan will be able to elevate the strategic and global partnership to a new level,” he said.