WATCH: Trump tells Japanese dignitaries he never knew there were 'so many countries' until he was elected

While giving a speech to Japanese dignitaries on the first leg his Asian tour, President Donald Trump admitted that he was unaware of how many countries there are in the world until he became president.

Addressing how he first became acquainted with Japanese Prime Minister Abe -- who Trump referred to by his first name, Shinzo -- Trump made the off-hand comment, appearing to go off-script from his prepared remarks.

“So my relationship with Shinzo got off to quite a rocky start because I never ran for office, and here I am," Trump remarked. "But I never ran, so I wasn’t very experienced. And after I had won, everybody was calling me from all over the world. I never knew we had so many countries.”

You can watch the president's remarks in the video below. The countries comment comes at the 14 minute mark: