Akie Abe, Japan’s first lady, may have let Donald Trump think she doesn’t speak English

Donald Trump sat with Japanese First Lady Akie Abe for a dinner at the G20 summit that lasted as long as an hour and 45 minutes, and came away thinking that she doesn’t speak English.

But she does. And people now think she just pretended not to so that she could avoid conversing with the U.S. president.

Coverage of Donald Trump at the G20 on Globalnews.ca:

2:16 Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin address media at G20 summit in Hamburg

• Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin address media at G20 summit in Hamburg
• Donald Trump prepares for G20 with calls to EU leaders
• Trump and Putin held a second undisclosed meeting at the G20 summit
• Trump’s wins and losses at first G20 Summit
• G20 Summit wraps with many leaders disagreeing with Trump on key issues

Previous Video

Next Video

In an interview with The New York Times, Trump told reporter Maggie Haberman that he sat with Abe at a post-opera dinner, but noted that she “doesn’t speak English.”

“Like, nothing, right? Like zero?” Haberman asked.

“Like, not ‘hello,'” Trump responded.

READ MORE: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had undisclosed second meeting at G20

The idea that Abe doesn’t speak English flies in the face of video that shows her doing that very thing.

One of the most widely-circulated pieces of evidence that spread on the internet Thursday showed her delivering a keynote address in fluent English at New York’s Ford Foundation in 2014:

And a video captured by AP in February showed Abe receiving a tour of Florida’s Japanese Morikami Gardens alongside Melania Trump from an English-speaking guide, with no translator standing with her for parts of the tour:

Trump’s remarks, and the videos, were enough to convince numerous people that Abe pretended not to speak English just so she didn’t have to talk to the president.

Here was Guardian columnist Jessica Valenti:

Here was Sam Thielman, a reporter at Talking Points Memo: 

The Los Angeles Times reported that Abe attended the Sacred Heart School, a private Roman Catholic international school, that has instruction in English.

But the Times also said it was unlikely that Abe intentionally didn’t speak with Trump.

Reporter Laura King said it would have been “almost unheard of” for a public Japanese figure to be rude in a situation like that.