There’s something fishy going on in Tokyo, where President Donald Trump’s trip to Asia had a lighter moment on Monday after a photo opportunity went a little off-script.
Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were feeding fish at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo. Each held a small box and a spoon to toss small amounts of fish food into the water.
Abe then dispensed with his spoon and simply dumped his fish flakes into the pond.
Abe dumped his fish food first. pic.twitter.com/dWZf2IDrPL
— Nicholas Wadhams (@nwadhams) November 6, 2017
Trump was followed suit, albeit with a tad more flourish.
The night before, however, ABC News tweeted a clip that omitted Abe dumping out his box, and Twitter briefly rose to take the bait:
Pres. Trump helped Prime Minister Abe feed the fish outside the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo. https://t.co/8FiQzBf4qm pic.twitter.com/M9OVyIFuQg
— ABC News (@ABC) November 6, 2017
TRUMP: So Obama just gave them a few flakes?
— TrivWorks (@TrivWorks) November 6, 2017
ABE: Yes. These ceremonial Koi are very sensitive to foo— pic.twitter.com/fMSXuAtzME
Abe's feed-the-koi-slowly-so-I-don't-have-to-talk-to-Trump strategy might have worked, if DJT hadn't dumped all the food in2 the H2O at once
— L L Copp (@GretiaLee) November 6, 2017
Four stages of Trump’s latest diplomatic incident: Tokyo koi pond edition. pic.twitter.com/Bx3FsEoXyq
— Zack Whittaker (@zackwhittaker) November 6, 2017
Expert advice: not too much
— david munk (@davidmunk) November 6, 2017
Trump: here you gohttps://t.co/wr7VvBVrLy
*Feeding Koi fish*
— St Peter (@stpeteyontweety) November 6, 2017
Trump:I’m bored.... pic.twitter.com/2SEQWNo2aP
He promised to “drain the swamp”, instead Japan has to drain the koi pond.
— RobertaK (@justme2) November 6, 2017
This article initially cited early reports that omitted Shinzo Abe leading the fish food charge, and has been updated to include more complete footage.
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