Photo/Illutration Ayano Kosaka stands beside a piano that Soon Ching-ling, the wife of Sun Yat-sen, played at the Hibiya Matsumotoro restaurant in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. (Masayoshi Hayashi)

If the walls could talk at the Hibiya Matsumotoro restaurant in Tokyo’s Hibiya Park, they could boast of hosting one of the most important figures in modern Chinese history.

Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), known as the father of modern China, often visited the eatery at the beginning of the 20th century.

Shokichi Umeya, a businessman who supported Sun's life in exile in Japan and assisted him with revolutionary funds, took him to the restaurant.

Hibiya Matsumotoro opened the same time that the park did in 1903. Fashion-conscious young people flocked to the Western-style restaurant to eat curry as such establishments were still rare at the time.

Whether Sun ever ate the famed curry is not known. According to Ayano Kosaka, owner of Matsumotoro, there remains no record of what he ate.

“It appears that Sun would not eat a lot nor drink alcohol,” said Kosaka, 52.

When Kosaka was a child, her grandmother would tell her stories of Sun and Umeya. Umeya was her maternal great-grandfather.

“Umeya not only gave huge financial assistance to him but also took care of his private matters, such as his relationship with Soong Ching-ling, who later became his wife,” said Kosaka.

“I was told that Umeya’s wife, Toku, even washed the underwear of Chiang Kai-shek (who would later become president of the Republic of China) during his stay in Japan.”

Because of its connection to Sun, Matsumotoro attracted a lot of attention in China after World War II. Many Chinese ambassadors to Japan visited the restaurant to see material related to Sun.

Later, Matsumotoro became a stage for top-level diplomacy between Japan and China.

In 2008, then Chinese President Hu Jintao came to Japan, the first Chinese leader to visit in 10 years. Hu had an informal dinner with then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on the third floor at Matsumotoro.

According to Kosaka, vehicles with loudspeakers blaring opposition to Hu’s visit to Japan surrounded Hibiya Park. In the raucous setting, Japanese hosts, including Fukuda, seemed a little nervous.

However, Hu was in good spirits and created a pleasant mood by engaging in conversation with his hosts.

Before the dinner, Kosaka explained about the friendship between Sun and Umeya while she showed material related to Sun.

Hu eagerly listened to her story and wrote a message in eight, neatly written letters: “Friendship between China and Japan continues over generations.”

While it is currently a difficult time for relations between Japan and China, Kosaka said, “Japan and China can deepen their bonds if they share the history of Sun Yat-sen, or the times when the two countries helped each other.”