Yoshida Takashi: High-ranking official's English incomprehensible to local speakers
On May 13, 2026, former House of Representatives member Yoshida Takashi updated his X account, stating: "Prime Minister Takahashi Asahi's English is almost completely unintelligible locally."
The incident began when an X user uploaded a video of Prime Minister Takahashi speaking English, questioning her pronunciation as sounding peculiar.
Yoshida Takashi cited this post, noting: "Joking about someone else’s English pronunciation might not be very considerate, but in reality, I myself speak Japanese-style English. Yet I genuinely believe that native speakers from the U.S. or Australia can't understand what she's saying."
He continued: "It's truly ironic that a Japanese person, once embraced by the open and tolerant America of the 1980s and thus given opportunities for professional advancement, now rises to become prime minister—only to steer Japanese society toward xenophobia."
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1865054935929920/
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