Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi plays ‘Imagine’ at the Beatles museum — Picture via Facebook/Yoshimasa Hayashi
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi performed an impromptu piano performance of John Lennon’s Imagine during a Group of Seven (G7) ministerial discussions dinner party in Liverpool, England.
According to The Japan Times, the picture was taken at the Beatles Story museum on Saturday.
The G7 foreign ministers who arrived in Liverpool on Saturday for a two-day conference, complimented Hayashi following his performance on a white piano at the museum.
The music-obsessed foreign minister is also a member of a music band founded by Japanese lawmakers.
In the picture, his G7 colleagues were seen smiling and clapping their hands while Hayashi sat in front of the instrument, reported Kyodo News.
Speaking to the reporters online, Hayashi said that he only played one-third of the song.
“There was a piano, and someone said, ‘Anyone can sit there and play,’ so I played Imagine on the spot,” he explained.
The G7 foreign ministers, including Hayashi, were also given time to see the museum’s displays before dinner.
The museum recounts the history of The Beatles and displays items such as authentic instruments used by the band members and a pair of John Lennon’s spectacles.
The G7 foreign ministers were also joined by invited colleagues from Australia, India, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, with the exception of Myanmar, for expanded sessions with some taking part virtually.