New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has blamed jet lag after she confused Japan for China in an embarrassing slip-up on her first official visit to the island nation, on Sep. 19.

According to CNN, the gaffe occurred at a media briefing shortly after her arrival, in which she said: "It's an incredibly exciting time for New Zealand and its relationship with China, sorry, excuse me, with Japan."

Attributed the slip to jet lag

Ardern later stated that her misstep was due to jet lag, New Zealand media TVNZ reported.

She said: "You’ll understand I've been on continuous travel and just this moment stopped here."

Japan is three hours behind New Zealand, and a direct flight between the two countries takes about 11 hours.

Slip-up comes at an awkward timing

Still, Ardern's slip was noted to have come at an awkward time, given that the same day also saw a report released by the Asia New Zealand Foundation which questioned if New Zealand had let its relationship with Japan "drift".

The report noted that ties between both countries had "underperformed in the last few decades" as Japan's economy had stagnated, while New Zealand had re-oriented its focus towards China, with its growing market, CNN further highlighted.

Japan is New Zealand's fourth-largest trading partner

As such, China is now New Zealand's largest trading partner, while Japan is the fourth-largest.

The foundation's executive director Simon Draper stated that the relationship with Japan had been taken for granted a little.

Ardern has sought to downplay the report.

She said: "Obviously China is our largest export market, but Japan coming in at fourth is an incredibly important market for us as well."

Visiting Japan for five days

Ardern is in Japan for a five-day visit.

She has met Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and hailed the close relations between the two countries.

She also thanked Japan for looking after New Zealand's rugby team, the All Blacks, which are due to play in Japan on Sep. 21, as part of the Rugby World Cup.

Top photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi - Pool/ Getty Images