‘Little PM’ Takao to Attend Ishiba-Trump Meeting as Interpreter; Official Previously Interpreted During Meetings Between Trump and then PM Abe

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.