Netizens Once Felt Japan’s First Lady Faked Not Knowing English to Avoid Talking to Trump: 'My Hero'

In an interview with The New York Times in 2017, then-President Donald Trump narrated an incident about when he was seated next to Japan’s First Lady, Akie Abe, during a dinner at the G20 summit. Despite sharing the table for an almost two-hour meal, Trump and Abe reportedly had trouble communicating effectively, as reported by Newsweek. When this story first broke, internet reactions suggested that this silence might have been due to her reluctance to speak to Trump, especially since Abe is apparently fluent in English, as evident in her numerous public appearances.

There was also a viral social media video of Abe giving a keynote speech at the 2014 R3ADY Asia-Pacific symposium on coastal resilience in New York. In the footage, Abe was seen delivering a comprehensive speech that demonstrated her good English speaking skills.

Netizens soon began to mock Trump as Chelsea Handler also tweeted, "People think the First Lady of Japan pretended not to speak English to avoid talking to Trump. It’s called #pullingamelania." Commenting on this, one X user said, "She speaks perfect English. They have her on video. You could tell she wanted to throw up on both Trump and Melania. Love her!"

Another X user said, "Wife of Japan's PM, Akie Abe is my hero. She pretended that she couldn't speak English for 2 hours so that she wouldn't have to talk to 45." A third person claimed, "Not quite a world leader, but there was Japan's first lady who pretty much ignored Trump. Trump later said she couldn't speak English in an interview, despite there being videos of here speaking and her having gone to english speaking schools. So there's that."

While speaking to The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, Trump said, "So I was seated next to the wife of Prime Minister Abe [Shinzo Abe of Japan], who I think is a terrific guy, and she’s a terrific woman, but doesn’t speak English." Haberman asked, "Like nothing, right? Like zero?" To this, Trump replied, "Like, not 'hello.'" Trump then added, "Well, it's hard, because you know, you're sitting there for [hours]." 

Further in the interview, Trump said, "I was sitting next to the president of Argentina — his wife — [Mauricio] Macri — nice woman, who speaks English. And the prime minister of Japan’s wife, Prime Minister Abe. Great relationships. So I’m sitting there. There was one interpreter for Japanese, 'cause otherwise, it would have been even tougher. But I enjoyed the evening with her, and she's really a lovely woman, and I enjoyed—the whole thing was good."

Later on, responding to the chaos over Trump's remarks, a spokesperson from Japan's foreign ministry stated that no official statement would be issued, emphasizing that the conversation in question was private. However, the ministry added, "In the meantime, we acknowledge in that interview that President Trump stated that he enjoyed the evening with her [Mrs. Abe], and she is really a lovely woman," as reported by BBC.