European Union President Herman Van Rompuy parried questions about the realities of the Greek debt crisis, but ended a Tokyo news conference on a poetic note _ with a haiku.

"The sun is rising / sleeping yet in Europe / but still the same sun," he said at the end of the joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

Van Rompuy _ known to some as Haiku Herman _ is an avid writer of haiku, a traditional Japanese form of poetry. He sometimes writes on political themes, but reserved comment Wednesday on the meaning of his latest work.

This month the 62-year-old former Belgian prime minister published his first book of haiku, which are composed of three unrhymed lines that generally total about 17 syllables.

Earlier Wednesday, Japan's Foreign Ministry marked his visit by awarding the grand prize in a Japan-EU English Haiku Contest to Eduard Tara.

Tara's entry, chosen from 523 haiku submitted from Japan and EU countries, was: "Unfolding a map / the cherry petals connect / Europe and Japan."

The 41-year-old Romanian will be invited to the Dogo hot spring resort in southwestern Japan, known as the birthplace of modern haiku, the ministry said.