Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest serving prime minister, announced his retirement as a result of deteriorating health. Japan recognized Israel in 1952, but for many years they did not have strong relations, as Japan was a major trading partner of the Arab League, which supplied oil to Japan. Over time, however, Japan and Israel have strengthened their ties, particularly since 2014 when the two countries increased their security, economic, and political cooperation following a visit to Japan by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2018, Prime Minister Abe and his wife visited Israel, and while the trip was considered to be successful, there was one diplomatic gaffe by the Israelis. What happened that upset Abe and his wife and the Japanese staff and diplomats?

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by Hudson Institute is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A. A dinner was held at the residence of Prime Minister Netanyahu in honor of the Japanese prime minister. At the beginning of the dessert, Prime Minister Abe raised his glass and offered the traditional Japanese toast, “Kanpai.” Prime Minister Netanyahu misunderstood his guest, however, thinking he said pecan pie, and he replied, “No, I'm sorry, we are serving apple pie.”

B. A dinner was held at the residence of Prime Minister Netanyahu in honor of the Japanese prime minister. For dessert, the Israelis served chocolate pralines, that were placed on the table inside shiny leather shoes. However, the idea of a shoe on a table is highly offensive in Japanese culture, where shoes are not even worn inside homes, causing much distress among the Japanese dinner guests.

C. As part of a trade agreement signed between the two countries, Israel agreed to increase imports of cars from Japan. However, in the official document, the Israelis wrote “Nisan” (which is the spelling of the first month in the Jewish calendar) instead of “Nissan,” (which is the spelling of Japan’s second largest automobile manufacturer). Unfortunately, however, the Israelis did not catch this spelling error in the document, and did not know that “Nisan” is a Japanese slang word for a sexual act.

D. A dinner was held at the residence of Prime Minister Netanyahu in honor of the Japanese prime minister. Place cards on the table noted the spot for each person to sit. The Japanese prime minister’s seat was designated by a card reading “Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,” when in fact, it should have read “Prime Minister Abe Shinzo,” as in Japanese culture the correct form is to state the persons surname first followed by his or her first name.

E. A dinner was held at the residence of Prime Minister Netanyahu in honor of the Japanese prime minister. Among the guests was Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, who addressed the Japanese prime minister incorrectly, saying his name as if it were spelled Abby (the proper pronunciation is A-Báy, accented on the second syllable). When he was corrected, Carlson said, “So I’m disrespecting him by mispronouncing him intentionally? So it begins. You’re not allowed to criticize Abby, or Abie, or Abu Dhabi, or whatever?”

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