Civic Register
| 11.6.17

Don’t Be Koi: U.S. Presidents’ Japan Faux-Pas

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As part of a welcoming ceremony, President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo to feed koi fish. Twitter, however, had the feeding frenzy when photos and videos emerged of Trump dumping his entire box of fish food into the water:

It later emerged, however, that Trump followed the Prime Minister’s lead:

President Trump would not have been the first visiting POTUS to commit a faux pas in the Land of the Rising Sun:

President Barack Obama’s Bow Booed

When Obama met Japan’s Emperor Akihito in Tokyo in 2009, the President bent to a nearly 90 degree angle as he delivered a deep bow. Conservative bloggers and commentators blasted the president, with the Drudge Report running the banner headline: "Obama bows before Japan’s emperor". Similarly, a blogger for the L.A. Times asked, “How low will he go? Obama gives Japan's Emperor Akihito a wow bow”. Even former Vice President Dick Cheney joined the bow blowback, telling Politico: "There is no reason for an American president to bow to anyone. Our friends and allies don't expect it, and our enemies see it as a sign of weakness."

The event was recently referenced by Trump supporters, to illustrate the difference between the two presidents:

President George H.W. Bush’s Trickle Up Economics

On January 8, 1992, President Bush attended a scheduled banquet hosted by Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa. What wasn’t scheduled was Bush vomiting in Miyazawa’s lap then fainting.

The incident even gave rise to a Japanese euphemism for puking: Bushu-suru, which means "to do the Bush thing."

It’s too early to tell if Trump-suru as a euphemism for "over-feeding koi" has caught on in Japan.

— Josh Herman