SÃO PAULO, SP (FOLHAPRESS) — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida paid a series of visits to five Western countries between Jan. 9 and Jan. 14. He traveled to France, then to Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States before returning to Tokyo.

On the program, a series of meetings with leaders and authorities of the host countries, such as the meeting with US President Joe Biden – a demonstration of unity against the growing militarization of China.

The attitude of one of the members of Kishida’s entourage during his stay in Washington is however frowned upon by the Japanese. Seiji Kihara, the prime minister’s deputy chief of staff, was filmed with his hands in his trouser pockets during a statement by Kishida about his desire to get closer to Biden.

A grave moment victim of Japanese diplomacy was seen as a gaffe and earned Kihara social media criticism and even a family reprimand. In an interview with a YouTube channel, the 52-year-old politician said he received a call from his mother in which the latter, furious, said she was embarrassed and suggested that he sew his own pockets so as not to repeat the gesture.

The act took place on January 13 as Kishida was giving an interview outside Blair House, the official guest residence of the US President. Clips of Kihara’s gaffe posted on social media show the politician, first, with his hands in his pockets and looking up as the prime minister speaks. Then he adjusts his pants to the waist, stretches his jacket and crosses his hands in front of his body, in a posture of concentration between one and the other gesture of assent to Kishida’s lines.

The detail reportedly went unnoticed, but it was posted by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper’s Twitter profile. In the comments to the post, some users accused Kihara of being rude. On YouTube, he good-naturedly defended himself, saying he often walks around with his hands in his pockets and focuses on conveying friendly relations between Japan and the United States.

According to the British newspaper The Guardian, the Japanese is not the first political leader to be criticized for keeping his hands in his pockets during public events. Last year, then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was criticized for seeing leaders shake hands at a NATO summit while maintaining the same posture.

Also in Japan, in 2019, Internet users on social networks reacted badly to a gesture by the governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike. She had presented a medal to the winner of a marathon in the Japanese capital and, afterwards, put her hands in her jacket pockets. “If your hands are too cold to get out of your pockets, then wear gloves,” read a comment on Twitter.