To use this site, please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page.
This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content, and analyzing our website traffic. By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies.
Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
Photo taken from Nobuo Kishi’s Instagram account Cookies served at the Japan-U.S. defense ministers’ meeting in May
By Yusuke Amano / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
16:04 JST, June 15, 2022
A relationship can be deepened after an unexpected incident. For Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, it was a conversation over cookies.
At a Japan-U.S. defense ministers’ meeting at the U.S. Department of Defense on May 4, cookies decorated with icing depicting the two countries’ national flags were served. The flags, adapted to the round shape of the cookies, were surrounded by a border of cream piping.
Kishi was looking forward to taking them to eat later, as he has a sweet tooth.
Just after the meeting started, Austin, looking concerned, informed Kishi of stains on the sleeve of his shirt. It was the cream. Kishi was disappointed that he would not be able to take the cookies back home, but then Austin said that another set of cookies would be provided as souvenirs.
The meeting progressed smoothly, and the two moved into a separate room afterwards for talks on the reliability of the U.S. expanded deterrence, including through its nuclear umbrella.
The two defense chiefs had already held talks seven times, some over the phone. But for Kishi, it was the first time he got a feel for the kind of person Austin was.
“He is a person of integrity, who pays attention to details,” Kishi said of Austin.
After returning to Japan, Kishi posted a message on his Instagram account, saying: “I could not eat the Japan-U.S. cookies during the meeting. I fully enjoyed them after coming back.”
Unlike the colorful confections, the security environment surrounding Japan and the United States is not really sweet, with heightened threats from Russia, China and North Korea. Expectations are high for Kishi and Austin, who seem to have deepened their trust in each other.
