In hindsight it may not have been the Australian prime minister’s best moment. Over a glass of whiskey during a comedy podcast in July, Anthony Albanese joked about a gift of pricey melons from his Japanese counterpart, Sanae Takaichi.
Chatting with comedian Nikki Osborne, Albanese appeared to make a cupping gesture near his chest, Carry-on style, calling the melons from Japan’s first woman prime minister “pretty strange” but nice gifts.
Osborne joked: “She brought two ... She just came in looking like Pamela Anderson,” referring to an actress known for her generous proportions, to which Albanese replied: “She brought two, and they are beautiful.”
That encounter has snowballed into an unlikely political scandal that has simmered for weeks. One lawmaker condemned Albanese for what he called “foul-mouthed, classless comments about women”. Opposition leader Angus Taylor told Albanese last week to “man up” and apologise “for the sake of our nation”.
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Takaichi, however, ostensibly the object of this derision, has made no such demand. The joke about Crown melons, Japan’s priciest fruit, has been largely ignored back home.
As the row, inevitably dubbed “Melon-gate” rumbles on, Japan’s defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi is visiting Australia this week. All eyes are on whether the Albanese government will use the visit to privately say sorry and finally lay the issue to rest.
Japan’s ambassador to Australia, Kazuhiro Suzuki, reluctantly weighed in last week, saying he was “aware of media reporting” about the podcast but he added: “We have been informed by the Australian side that prime minister Albanese did not make the comments in the way that has been reported.”
A leaked Japanese diplomatic cable sent in July gave no hint of wounded national pride and blamed “sensationalised” reporting in Australia.
Suzuki’s predecessor, Tokyo’s former ambassador to Canberra Shingo Yamagami, has been less forgiving. In an opinion piece in The Australian, he said the “sexist” joke has “betrayed the close bond” between Japan and Australia.
Noting that a single Crown melon costs more than 30,000 yen (€162), he said the fruit was treasured in Japan and that the last thing Takaichi expected “was to be so casually mocked by the trusted leader of Japan’s special strategic partner”.
“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 said.
Yamagami is an unlikely defender of women. He has been a loud opponent of pressure to allow a woman Japanese emperor, which he blames on fashionable ideas about “LGBT, gender equality, equality, diversity and multicultural coexistence”.
But he has been a strong advocate of a tougher stance toward China. During his two years as ambassador in Australia, Yamagami clashed with members of Albanese’s Labor Party over their policies toward Beijing and he has found common cause with right-wing politicians such as Tony Abbott.
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Koizumi, himself tipped as a future Japanese prime minister, is in Canberra to discuss deepening defence ties to counter Chinese military and strategic expansion in the Indo-Pacific region. Australia’s deputy prime minister Richard Marles said this week the two sides would “enhance defence co-operation and support our shared commitment to regional security”.
“This includes in the areas of co-developing and co-producing defence capabilities, advanced weapons testing, enhanced training and exercises, and increased information and intelligence co-operation.”
As for Albanese, he says his hand gestures on the podcast were misinterpreted and has steadfastly declined any act of contrition.
“Australia and Japan have never been closer,” he said in parliament. “My government has taken our special strategic partnership to new heights.”
