Naoto Kan: The Odd Man Out?
Naoto Kan making his diplomatic debut as Prime Minister at the recent G8 summit held in Canada:
The user who uploaded it did so in an effort to show how the other leaders seem to be getting along well while Kan seems awkward and lost. While most of the leaders take time to have friendly conversations, Kan is on the sidelines. A lot of the other leaders have been in office for a while and have already met each other, whereas Kan is the representative of a country that is consistently failing to produce a leader capable of staying in office for longer than a year.
Japanese news coverage of Kan’s summit trip has been generally positive. Every channel played the clip of him not knowing where to stand for the group photo, but reporters emphasized the friendly pat on the back Obama gave to Kan while directing him to his proper position. They have also pointed out that Kan was able to later able spend a whole 30 minutes talking with the American president. Supposedly, this means that the damage the Hatoyama administration dealt to Japan-America relations is being repaired.
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