[Entertainment] Yamazaki Reina expresses concern over Shinjiro Koizumi’s words “I can’t even understand the Japanese language． Is this okay in the international political arena？”

Reina Yamazaki expresses concern over Shinjiro Koizumi’s words, saying, “It’s a line of reasoning that even Japanese can’t understand.” Is it okay in the international political arena? Former Nogizaka46 member Reina Yamazaki (27) appeared on TV Asahi’s “Beat Takeshi’s TV Tackle” (Sunday noon) broadcast on the 1st and expressed her concerns about the “words” of Shinjiro Koizumi (43), former Minister of the Environment, who will hold a press conference on the 6th to announce his candidacy for the LDP presidential election (nominations announced on the 12th, voting on the 27th). The program introduced that in a street survey of 100 people asking “who do you expect most from among the candidates planning to run in the presidential election?”, Shinjiro came out on top in all age groups: 18-20 years old, 30-50 years old, and 60 years old and over. As the panelists shared their thoughts about each candidate, there were mixed reactions about Shinjiro’s “diplomatic power” if he were to become Prime Minister and LDP President. Tsuda University professor Toshihito Kayano said, “In terms of diplomacy, if Trump were to become president, he would be the US president, Russia would have Putin, China would have Xi Jinping, and North Korea would have Kim Jong Un. When it comes to who can stand up to these people, I think Koizumi is a bit of a lightweight,” he said, expressing concern about the inexperienced Shinjiro. Then, Agawa Sawako and Otake Makoto responded with their own unique perspective. Agawa said, “This is just my personal feeling, but I think the fact that Koizumi’s comments were difficult to understand might actually be a good thing for foreigners. “They say, ’Japanese people don’t know what they’re talking about.’” With Shinjiro’s unique way of speaking, which has been pointed out as the so-called “Koizumi syntax,” in mind, he said, “I think that saying ’Japanese people don’t understand what is being said’ is an advantage (in diplomacy).” Otake responded, “I think so too,” and continued, “What Koizumi said was, ’What I always try to do is to put my body temperature and weight into the words I speak.’ “People from other countries would be surprised to hear that,” he said sarcastically. On the other hand, Yamazaki commented, “Whether Harris or Trump becomes the next president of the United States is completely the opposite, isn’t it? In this situation, if Japan is to continue its diplomacy (as it has done up until now), it will be required to handle it not only within the party or domestically, but also in the international political arena. In that case, I really wonder if it’s okay to use logic that we don’t even understand in Japanese,” he said, expressing his concerns. When Otake and Agawa said, “Maybe that would be stronger,” Yamazaki shook his head and said, “Is that really okay?”

Yahoo!ニュース

Yahoo!ニュースは、新聞・通信社が配信するニュースのほか、映像、雑誌や個人の書き手が執筆する記事など多種多様なニュースを掲載しています。

news.yahoo.co.jp