Video showing an aide to Japan's prime minister standing outside the U.S. Capitol with his hands in his own pockets caused a viral online uproar, in which viewers accused the man of "disgracing his parents." And his behavior did indeed mortify his own "ashamed" mother, who said he should "sew up his pockets," according to The Guardian. Although the informal posture would be shrugged off by all but Tucker Carlson in the U.S. (which has much bigger faux pas to fry), it is apparently a scandal worthy of shame in Japan, prompting Sieji Kihara, 52, to publicly apologize.
From The Guardian:
He might have got away with the faux pas had the Asahi Shimbun newspaper not posted a clip on its Twitter account, sparking criticism from social media users.
One accused him of bad manners, while another suggested that Kihara, a stocky man who lists his weight as 85kg on his Twitter profile, had "more attitude than the prime minister".
In his defence, Kihara said he was the "sort of person who puts his hands in his pockets while walking" – although he was standing still during the incident – and that he was simply concentrating on Kishida's comments so he could accurately brief the media on the outcome of the Biden summit.
"I was thinking of how best to convey the amicable Japan-US relations on display at the summit," he said in an appearance on a YouTube political discussion channel, much to the amusement of the other guests.
Kihara was attending his first summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida when he committed the act (see video below, tweeted by @asahi_kantei).
Front page thumbnail image: Claudia K / shutterstock.com
