An interpretation error has been clarified by the Japanese government, which led to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s mistaken comment during a press conference in New Delhi. On July 2, at a joint event with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Takaichi stated that Modi had referred to her as his “beautiful sister.” This was later identified as a misunderstanding stemming from translation inaccuracies.
Government officials revealed that the original statement made by Modi in Hindi was “my sister,” which was translated into English as “my younger sister.” However, the complexity of simultaneous relay interpretation from Hindi through English to Japanese resulted in the phrase being incorrectly rendered as “beautiful sister.”
Accepting the translation as accurate, Prime Minister Takaichi echoed the phrase during her remarks, expressing that she and Modi had pledged to maintain their relationship akin to that of siblings. The error in interpretation, however, was the root cause of this unintended compliment.
Japanese authorities have assured that this translation mistake has not had any adverse effects on diplomatic relations between Japan and India. They confirmed that India has not raised any concerns over the incident, and both nations continue to enjoy stable and cooperative ties.