Intense debate on why Japan's First Lady didnt speak to Trump
The debate followed after Trumps interview claiming she didnt speak English.Photo: Fumishige Ogata
(Web Desk) – Speculations surrounding the first lady of Japan, Akie Abe pretending to not know how to speak in English while seated next to Donald Trump, during the G20 summit in Hamburg has taken the internet by storm.
According to The New York Times, when president Trump was asked about his second meeting with Vladimir Putin, the US President explained that Aki Abe “doesn’t speak any English”.
In an interview to Times political reporter Maggie Haberman, he said that it was awkward to sit next to her without talking for more than an hour.
Pressed further he said: “Like, not ‘hello’”, he added that it was hard because the dinner was an hour and 45 minutes. “But I enjoyed the evening with her, and she’s really a lovely woman, and I enjoyed – the whole thing was good,” he added.
The news went viral and soon social media users started sharing a rare clip of the 55-year-old Abe making a keynote address in well-constructed English. Abe, the daughter of a wealthy Japanese family, has studied in prestigious private school in Tokyo before she attended college. English language instruction was part of her education’s curriculum.
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In February, they presumably spoke through a translator : BBC
Sam Thielman, a writer of Talking Points Memo, tweeted a video of Akie Abe where she is giving a keynote address at a Ford Foundation event in 2014.
Akie Abe is my new hero. pic.twitter.com/WEnjBsrRQ3
— Sam Thielman (@samthielman) July 20, 2017
While there are plentiful evidences given by the social media users that her Excellency Akie Abe can speak in English, many asked what could be the reason behind her silence. There is also speculation that with Akie Abe, who has struck a feminist tone in the past, she simply didn’t want to speak to a man like Trump, who on record has disrespected women on several occasions.
If the First Lady of Japan truly pretended not to speak English for 2 hours to avoid talking to Trump she s both a hero and deeply relatable
— Emma Gray (@emmaladyrose) July 20, 2017
People think the First Lady of Japan pretended not to speak English to avoid talking to Trump. It’s called #pullingamelania
— Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) July 20, 2017
However, according to BBC, her previous diplomatic encounters have almost always have been through an interpreter. And the BBC also noted that when previously they requested for an interview with her, they were informed that she would only accept if it was conducted in Japanese.
