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Ivanka Trump
- A sleekly dressed all-female police squad has been assembled to protect Ivanka Trump on her trip to Japan.
- The first daughter is in Tokyo for the World Assembly for Women.
- Trump has become a fashion icon and role model in the country - and her visit has been heavily hyped.
Japanese officials and fans of Ivanka Trump are pulling out all the stops for the first daughter's trip to Tokyo.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department created a 100% female security team to protect Trump on her trip to Japan, Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported.
According to Asahi, this is the first time ever that Tokyo has assembled an all-female security squad. The team is made up of dozens of women, dressed in sleek black suits - fitting for protecting Trump, who is celebrated as a fashion icon in Japan.
"We opted for a more cultivated look to suit the occasion," an officer in charge of the security plan told Asahi.
The squad was reportedly assembled in part due to concerns that Trump's Japanese fans would swarm the first daughter, trying to catch a glimpse of the celebrity or attempting to pass of a gift on some kind.
Trump landed in Tokyo for the annual World Assembly for Women early Thursday morning. The first daughter and presidential advisor is supposed to give a speech at the event on Friday about female entrepreneurship and women's economic power.
Her arrival has been eagerly anticipated by local fans of the first daughter's fashion brand. The suspense racketed up to such a degree that Japanese TV channels began broadcasting footage of an empty airport escalator, the Washington Post's Anna Fifield reported on Twitter.
In the US, Ivanka Trump's fashion line is one of the most negatively perceived brands in the country. In fact, its one of the bottom 10 brands in the country by consumer perception, according to a YouGov survey of 1,600 brands released on Wednesday.
However, Trump has a loyal following in Japan, China, and other parts of Asia.
Dozens of Chinese businesses and individuals have filed for trademarks to use Ivanka's name to sell everything from wallpaper to alcohol. In both Japan and China, sales of the Ivanka Trump fashion brand have reportedly skyrocketed over the past year.
"Many people think she's like a princess," Lully Miura, a political scientist at the University of Tokyo, told the Washington Post. "She's well educated, beautiful, sophisticated and rich. And it's very surprising to Japanese women that she can also talk about things that are important to society."