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No Fear No Favour

Japan’s First Lady Avoided President Trump By Pretending She Doesn’t Speak English?

The US President was seated next to Akie Abe, wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo, at a dinner to mark the end of the meeting in Hamburg on July 8.

But in an interview with the New York Times, Mr Trump admitted dinner conversation was not particularly forthcoming.

He said: “So, I was seated next to the wife of Prime Minister Abe, who I think is a terrific guy, and she’s a terrific woman but doesn’t speak English.”

Claiming she was unable to even say as much a “hello” in English, he went on to say the evening had been “hard” because the meal went on for “probably an hour and 45 minutes.”

He said: “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.”

However, there seems to be some discrepancy about Mr Trump’s version of events – as Mrs Abe apparently speaks very good English.

And while it may be that the president, who had a Japanese translator with him, just assumed she did not speak English and refused to speak to her, social media has other ideas.

Many have suggested the First Lady could have pretended not to speak the language to avoid talking to the controversial politician.

One Twitter user said: “‘Look, I’m just going to pretend I don’t speak English.’

“’You worked at the world’s largest ad agency.’

“’I don’t care’.”

Another said: “Well played Akie Abe. Well played.”

The pair has actually dined together before, as the Japanese heads of state visited the US a month after President Trump’s inauguration.

The president was joined by wife US first lady Melania Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Abe’s wife Akie in a restaurant in Palm Beach, Florida on February 10.

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