It has been almost a week since Donald Trump’s “Who knows better about surprise than Japan?” zinger on Pearl Harbor hijacked an otherwise smooth US-Japan summit in Washington. Debate continues to rage over the micro-contortions that danced across Sanae Takaichi’s face and the thoughts they may have revealed or concealed.
Most assume that Trump’s guest was aghast. The Japanese prime minister’s expressions have been variously interpreted as skilfully suppressed shock, diplomatically stifled contempt, or perhaps flinty self-criticism that she had not foreseen even this US president turning almost 2,400 American deaths into a punchline.
But another possibility is that this was the face of a Japanese leader who, in that extraordinary instance, had spotted extraordinary opportunity.