Donald Trump met with the Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for the first time following her recent electoral victory. Here, they talked about the Iran war while the cameras focused on Trump’s swollen ankles.
According to the BBC, Trump has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which the White House revealed last year. Captain Sean Barbabella, the president’s physician, stated in a note that this condition is “benign and common.” It commonly affects people over 70.
It occurs when leg veins prevent blood from returning to the heart, causing it to pool in the lower half of the body. The normal process of blood flowing up becomes progressively more difficult with age.
Wake Forest University’s chair of the Department of Vascular Surgery, Matthew Edwards, told the BBC, “It can be associated with serious conditions, but in and of itself it is not a serious condition, and one that is very common.”
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He added, “People in his age (group), I would say probably somewhere between 10 and 35% of people would have this.”
The meeting with Takaichi also shed some light on Japan’s stance on the conflict with Iran. Previously, Trump had called for Japan and other countries to help secure the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
But Takaichi stressed there were no plans for Japan to send naval vessels to the Middle East, as reported by CNBC. On X, her office also posted that there was “no specific request from the United States to Japan for the dispatch of vessels.”
Before the visit, Takaichi had told the National Diet of Japan (the national legislature of Japan) that she did not plan to make a legal assessment of the U.S.’s position in the war. She also claimed she would see what could be done while remaining within the framework of Japanese law, as stated by NHK World Japan.
Just before the meeting, Trump had claimed that Japan “is stepping up to the plate.” However, he did not elaborate on this any further.
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Takaichi acknowledged the war’s far-reaching consequences for almost every country. But she also stated, “I firmly believe that it is only you, Donald, who can achieve peace across the world.”
She added, “I am ready to reach out to many of the partners in the international community to achieve our objective together,” the BBC reported.
At one point in the meeting, a Japanese reporter asked Trump why the U.S. did not inform its allies before initiating an attack. Trump then brought up the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor in 1941.
He commented, “We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?”
They also had a chat about China, whose ties with Japan had significantly deteriorated in the last few days. Takaichi suggested that Japan would activate its self-defense forces if Taiwan is attacked, as the BBC noted.
