Japanese Minister Blames X for Diplomatic Near-Miss

Tokyo. A Japanese minister held Elon Musk’s X social media platform responsible on Friday for nearly creating a diplomatic crisis, when its automated translation tool suggested he was unaware of the names of world leaders he was meeting. Trade minister Ryosei Akazawa informed reporters that he was fully aware of the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh’s identity, after a post including photographs of the two displayed the name of a deposed Bangladeshi head of government in its translated text.

“This is actually a serious matter. It is possible that…the Bangladeshi public might be left with the impression that Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry does not even know who our (Bangladeshi) prime minister is,” Akazawa told journalists. His original Japanese-language post on X on October 28, which included photographs, indicated that he met with visiting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

However, the platform’s machine-translation tool mistakenly altered the English rendition, causing Akazawa to appear to state that he had met with Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s former prime minister who has resided in exile in India since a mass uprising in 2024.

Japanese Minister Blames X for Diplomatic Near-Miss

Repeated Translation Errors

Compounding the issue, it was not the first instance where Akazawa had encountered a translation blunder on the platform. He mentioned that a similar error transpired after he published a post about his Thursday online discussion with Kuwait’s oil minister Tareq Al-Roumi — with the automatic translation feature claiming he had discussions with Qatar’s energy minister. Akazawa also noted that his translated post regarding a meeting with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had provided an incorrect name.