Trump's Pearl Harbor Jokes Alter Japanese PM's Facial Expression
Unexpectedly, US President Donald Trump referenced the Pearl Harbor attack while receiving an official visit from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Trump’s remark caused Takaichi’s reaction to change during the meeting at the White House.
Trump’s statement appeared light-hearted, but it is likely to cause unease in a country that is now a staunch US ally. In a friendly meeting with Takaichi, Trump spoke to reporters about why he did not inform allies before the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February.
“We didn’t tell anyone about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows more about surprise than Japan, okay?” Trump said in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington DC, as reported by AFP on Friday (20/3/2026).
Looking at Takaichi, the 79-year-old President said, “Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, okay?”
Takaichi, who relied on a translator, said nothing but appeared to hold back a small sigh as she shifted in her chair, with at least one groan heard in the crowded room filled with US and Japanese reporters.
Brief Flashback to Pearl Harbor
The Empire of Japan launched a preemptive strike on the main US base in the Pacific, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December 1941, hoping to deliver a decisive blow before the US was expected to enter World War II.
More than 2,400 Americans were killed in the attack, which President Franklin D Roosevelt described as a “day of infamy”. The United States ended World War II by dropping two atomic bombs on Japan, the only use of nuclear weapons in history.
The wartime history remains sensitive for Japan, which has cultivated a close alliance with the United States for decades and hopes to forget the memories of the conflict.
Takaichi herself is known for her nationalist views, having stated that Japan fought defensively and has apologised too much to Asian countries that suffered.
Trump Not Once Makes a Jab
Trump made another surprising jab at World War II last year when meeting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, telling him that the Allied forces’ landing on D-Day in Nazi-occupied France “was not a pleasant day for you.”
Merz responded that Germany owes a debt to America because in the long term “this was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship.”
Trump justified his attack on Iran by saying that the country would soon have nuclear weapons—a claim unsupported by the UN nuclear watchdog and most observers—and called for the Iranian people to overthrow their clerical regime, although he has not made regime change a goal.