Criticism is growing in Japan over the gift of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida with a large rice spatula to pray for victory in Ukraine. Not only online, but also in the political world, there are voices calling it a “shameful gift.”
According to Japanese media Sponichianex and Jcast on the 23rd (local time), Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on the same day that Prime Minister Kishida presented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with a ‘shamoji’ (rice spatula) during his visit to Kiiu, Ukraine.
The approximately 50 cm long chamoji gifted by Prime Minister Kishida is from Hiroshima, and has the prime minister’s signature and the phrase ‘Victory’ written in large letters.
Shamoji is known as a symbol of wishing for victory as it has the meaning of ‘catching and eating the enemy’, just like eating rice with a spatula during the Russo-Japanese War. It is also said to have the meaning of ‘spreading luck and fortune’.
Prime Minister Kishida presented Hiroshima-grown chamoji with the logo of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and Japan as a gift to then Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se at a meeting between the foreign ministers of Korea and Japan in 2015, when he was foreign minister.
Regarding this, reactions such as “I think it is unnecessary” and “embarrassing” are pouring out in Japan.
One netizen pointed out, “It doesn’t matter if you give the Japanese baseball team this time, but it doesn’t make sense to give it to the president of a country at war.” did.
In Japan, 1000 origami cranes are a gift that is believed to bring good luck and hasten the recovery of the sick. At the time of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria last month, there was a movement to fold origami cranes in Japan, causing controversy.
There was also criticism that Prime Minister Kishida was “a kind of performance for the election campaign.”
Senator Renho of the Constitutional Democratic Party, the main opposition party, attached an article related to the Shamoji gift on Twitter, claiming, “I think it is only that they are not able to distinguish between election and war.”
It is pointed out that Prime Minister Kishida, who is from Hiroshima, aimed to mobilize supporters of the trend and build up performance by gifting Hiroshima-produced products ahead of the Japanese unification local elections next month.
Next, Rep. Renho pointed out that Prime Minister Kishida appointed his eldest son as secretary, saying, “Even though his (Prime Minister) family is a secretary, no one stops him.”
Hideya Sugio, a member of the same party, shared the article on Twitter and said, “Is this real? I don’t want to believe it,” he said.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.