President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday pledged to “limit my mouth” in a meeting with Japan’s revered Emperor Akihito this week following previous concerns in Tokyo the profanity-prone leader would spark diplomatic tensions.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday pledged to “limit my mouth” in a meeting with Japan’s revered Emperor Akihito this week following previous concerns in Tokyo the profanity-prone leader would spark diplomatic tensions.
Duterte said he would have an audience with the 83-year-old Akihito — a popular and respected figure in Japan — during his two-day visit to Tokyo from Oct. 30 to 31. A scheduled meeting last year was cancelled following a death in the imperial family.
That meeting had put Japanese officials on faux pas alert after a video of Duterte with President Xi Jinping in China showed him apparently chewing gum — considered rude in Japan on such an occasion.
“I suppose that I have to limit my mouth there except maybe to bring the warm greetings of the Filipino nation, a grateful nation to Japan,” Duterte told reporters before departing for Tokyo on Sunday night.
