Japan fury over Anthony Albanese’s ‘melons’ comment about female PM: ‘Crude’

Tokyo’s former ambassador to Canberra has unleashed over Anthony Albanese’s ‘melons’ comment about Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi.

In an episode of the Bush Deep podcast with Nikki Osborne, Albanese recalled being given a ‘royal melon’ by Takaichi during her first visit to Australia in May.

Osborne questioned whether the melons were ‘smuggled’ into Australia, to which Albanese joked that the Japanese leader has ‘got a couple of melons’ and made hand gestures.

Osborne joked that the Japanese leader was ‘looking like Pamela Anderson’ and Albanese said: ‘She brought two, as you do… and they’re beautiful.’ 

On Monday, about a month after the comments were aired, Albanese pushed back against suggestions his remarks were a crude joke about her anatomy. ‘This assertion is wrong.’ 

But Shingo Yamagami, Japan’s former ambassador to Australia, said the interview had undermined the Prime Minister’s reputation in Japan. 

According to Yamagami, Takaichi is no stranger to derogatory remarks about her body and gender from China and her political opponents, ‘the last thing she expected was to be so casually mocked by the trusted leader of Japan’s special strategic partner’.

‘However lighthearted it was intended to be, the recent joke delivered by PM Anthony Albanese at the expense of Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi is how he might be remembered by Japanese who most value the friendship with Australia,’ he wrote.

‘It is a time for toiling and not for crude jokes at another’s expense,’ he says.

He said Australia and Japan’s close relationship would not be weakened by the comments. 

However, he said they showed ‘a paucity of strategic thinking’ when the two countries need to be working together to push back against China. 

‘So, Prime Minister, please enjoy Japan’s sweet and juicy melons without thinking about a woman’s anatomy, and instead focus on what our two countries must do together.’

He also said Albanese showed ‘appalling’ ignorance of the significance of the gift.

‘A crown melon is the most prized fruit in Japan and treasured as something special. Moreover, this particular fruit was painstakingly nurtured under intensive care in a special greenhouse. A single melon costs more than 30,000 yen ($270).’

Japanese journalist Waka Ikeda also blasted the remarks, saying they had undermined Takaichi’s dignity. 

‘On recent evidence, a woman may run the world’s fourth-largest economy, stare down Beijing’s threats and still be reduced, by an allied prime minister, to two melons on a podcast,’ she said.

‘The joke was beneath him and beneath Australia, a long-time ally and friend of Japan. The silence that followed was beneath everyone.’

During the podcast, Albanese also sparked outrage by playing a game of ‘shag, marry or date’.

Albanese was asked to play the game involving Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman and Rhonda Burchmore, choosing which celebrity he would sleep with, marry or date.

Responding to the question, the Prime Minister said: ‘I’ve just got married. I’m only six months in.’

‘But if it goes tits up?’ Osborne hit back.

‘Kylie, clearly,’ he replied.

‘You’d marry Kylie? And shag her? And date her?’ questioned Osborne.

‘All of the above,’ replied Albanese. ‘She’s terrific.’

Elsewhere in the podcast interview, Osborne asked if Albanese and his new wife Jodie Haydon were ‘bonking like rabbits’.

‘Well, when we have time,’ he replied.

‘After the footy. It’s always a good aphrodisiac, a Souths win,’ he added, referencing the couple’s chosen NRL team.