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.
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo Prime Minister’s Office
The Yomiuri Shimbun
21:00 JST, February 6, 2025
A senior Foreign Ministry official who once interpreted for then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will act as an interpreter for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at a summit meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, scheduled for Friday, according to multiple government sources.
The official is Sunao Takao, director of the ministry’s Status of U.S. Forces Agreement Division. Trump affectionately referred to him as “little prime minister” when Abe and Trump held talks. So he was chosen to be the interpreter “as a special measure,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said.
It is unusual for a senior official to serve as an interpreter. A Foreign Ministry source said, “It was through Mr. Takao that Mr. Trump always heard the words of Mr. Abe, with whom he had a good relationship. I believe Mr. Trump will welcome a reunion with Mr. Takao.”
Takao also served as an interpreter when Ishiba held talks with Trump over the phone in November last year.
