www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5053275/Trump-dump-delights-peckish-Japanese-fish-outrages-Twitter.html
Koi, stop that! Twitter users attack Trump for feeding Shinzo Abe's prized fish by dumping an entire container of food in the pond – but the prime minister did it first!
- US President Donald Trump dumped an entire box of fish food into a pond of koi carp during his visit to Japan
- He and his host, Japanese Prime Mininster Shinzo Abe, began by delicately spooning out food into the pond
- Abe tossed the contents of his box down to the fish, at Tokyo's Akasaka Palace, before Trump followed suit
- Twitter users later attacked 71-year-old Trump, pointing out that it was a mistake to overfeed koi carp
- A spokesman for a Democratic congressman said 'Trump can't even feed fish right' while a Twitter user claimed Trump 'would f**k up p***ing in the ocean'
By
DAVID MARTOSKO, US POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM IN SEOUL and
AFP
PUBLISHED: 05:45 GMT, 6 November 2017 | UPDATED: 12:03 GMT, 6 November 2017
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President
Donald Trump sparked a feeding frenzy on social media Monday when he was photographed dumping an entire box of fish food into a pond of koi carp during his trip to
Japan.
The U.S. president and his Japanese host Shinzo Abe began by delicately spooning out food to the waiting koi at Akasaka Palace; the fish had been rounded up by a clapping Japanese aide.
But after comparing what they had left in their boxes, Abe chuckled and tossed the contents of his into the air, sending it down to the fish.
Trump followed suit, dumping his upside down and drawing a hearty laugh from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Despite having copied his host's actions, Twitter users later attacked 71-year-old Trump, pointing out that it was a mistake to overfeed koi carp.
Japanese PM Abe throws entire box of fish food into carp pond
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President Donald Trump dumped an entire contained of fish food into a koi pond at the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo on Monday as Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, second from right, watched – but Abe did it first
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Abe was videotaped tossing his fish food into the pond first, but Trump caught all the grief because photographers distributed his picture immediately
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Trump and Abe began by delicately spooning out the food into the pond, but Trump ultimately decided to be more aggressive
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Dinner time: The koi carp enthusiastically ate up Trump's offering, but overfeeding them can make them sick
Japan had orchestrated a lavish formal welcome for the Trumps, complete with a military honor guard and the traditional koi feeding.
Trump and first lady Melania had earlier paid a formal visit to Japanese Emperor Akihito and his wife Empress Michiko.
According to Dr. Erik Johnson, a Georgia veterinarian, overfeeding koi is a common mistake that 'can make your fish sick' – something both leaders were apparently guilty of
It can also create excessive levels of waste, degrading water quality.
'Fish that are overfed in typical ornamental pond facilities will eventually develop large bellies and begin to look a little bit like tadpoles, with the big body and the wispy tail,' Dr. Johnson writes in the
AquaScape Knowledge Base.
'That will not usually kill the fish, but the impact on the liver and other internal organs can and will be severe.'
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The U.S. president and his Japanese host Shinzo Abe began by delicately spooning out food to the waiting koi at Akasaka Palace; the fish had been rounded up by a clapping Japanese aide
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After comparing what they had left in their boxes, Abe chuckled and tossed the contents of his into the air, sending it down to the fish
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Trump followed suit, dumping his upside down and drawing a hearty laugh from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
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U.S. President Donald Trump and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wave after feeding carp before their working lunch at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo
Japanese PM Abe throws entire box of fish food into carp pond
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Lindsay Beyerstein wrote: 'Trump murders beloved koi by overfeeding. It's not a Las Vegas buffet, you moron. They suffocate on the extra food!'
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Twitter critics were quick to mock Donald Trump after he dumped the entire box of food in the pond
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Some tweets were uncharitable, including one that alleged the President of the United States would 'f*** up' relieving himself in the ocean
Monday's incident drew outrage among uncharitable fish lovers and other pet fanatics on Twitter.
Adam Glickstein, a spokesman for a Democratic congressman, carped: 'Trump can't even feed fish right.'
Liberal investigative journalist Lindsay Beyerstein wrote: 'Trump murders beloved koi by overfeeding. It's not a Las Vegas buffet, you moron. They suffocate on the extra food!'
One user commented: 'Everything is a horror show but Trump just dumping that fish food into the koi pond is breathtaking. Dude would f*** up p***ing in the ocean.'
Another added: 'Omg. That amount would literally kill the koi. What a classic Trump move.'
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President Donald Trump, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shake hands during a joint news conference at the Akasaka Palace this morning
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Trump (fourth from left) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (third from right) hold a meeting at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo this morning
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Front row, left to right: US First Lady Melania Trump, US President Donald J. Trump, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie Abe observe an honor guard at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo
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On the march: President Donald Trump (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe walk through the grounds of Akasaka Palace
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U.S. President Donald Trump headed to Japan on the first stop of his five-nation tour of Asia on Saturday, looking to present a united front with the Japanese against North Korea as tensions run high over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests
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Trump, who is on a 12-day trip, is to speak to U.S. and Japanese forces at Yokota air base shortly after arriving in Japan on Sunday and looked to stress the importance of the alliance to regional security
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Melania Trump (pictured with Japanese First Lady Akie Abe) is accompanying her husband on his first Asian tour. On Sunday, the two first ladies learned about the history of pearls at a jewelry shop in downtown Tokyo and had a private dinner with their husbands at a Japanese steak house.
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Trump will also have a state call with the Imperial Family at Akasaka Palace during his visit. Abe and Trump are also meeting families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea (pictured)
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President Donald Trump, center, is escorted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, during the honor guard ceremony at the Akasaka Palace
Meanwhile, Trump said on Monday that Japan would shoot North Korean missiles 'out of the sky' if it bought the U.S. weaponry needed for doing so, suggesting Tokyo take a stance it has avoided until now.
North Korea is pursuing nuclear weapons and missile programmes in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions and has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. It has fired two missiles over Japan.
Trump, speaking after a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, repeated his mantra the 'era of strategic patience' with North Korea was over, and said the two countries were working to counter the 'dangerous aggressions'.
Trump also pressed Japan to lower its trade deficit with the United States and buy more U.S. military hardware.
'He (Abe) will shoot them out of the sky when he completes the purchase of lots of additional military equipment from the United States,' Trump said, referring to the North Korean missiles. 'The prime minister is going to be purchasing massive amounts of military equipment, as he should. And we make the best military equipment by far.'
Abe, for his part, said Tokyo would shoot down missiles 'if necessary'.
Trump was replying to a question that was posed to Abe - namely how he would respond to a quote from Trump from a recent interview in which he said Japan was a 'samurai' nation and should have shot down the North Korean missiles.
Japan's policy is that it would only shoot down a missile if it were falling on Japanese territory or if it were judged to pose an 'existential threat' to Japan because it was aimed at a U.S. target.
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Donald Trump (third from left) and his wife Melania (third from right) talk with Emperor Akihito (left) and Empress Michiko (right) during their meeting at the Imperial Palace today
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Donald Trump met Emperor Akihito (left), exchanging a handshake and nodding, before his lunch and talks with Abe
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Melania Trump (left) talks with Empress Michiko (right) during their meeting at the Imperial Palace today
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U.S. President Donald Trump and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attend an official dinner at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo
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U.S. President Donald Trump's White House Director of Strategic Communications Hope Hicks arrives at a state banquet at the Akasaka Palace
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US President Donald Trump drinks during a toast at a state banquet dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo
The U.S. president is on the second day of a 12-day Asian trip that is focusing on North Korea's nuclear missile programmes and trade.
'Most importantly, we're working to counter the dangerous aggressions of the regime in North Korea,' Trump said, calling Pyongyang's nuclear tests and recent launches of ballistic missiles over Japan 'a threat to the civilized world and to international peace and stability'.
'Some people said that my rhetoric is very strong. But look what's happened with very weak rhetoric over the last 25 years. Look where we are right now,' he added.
North Korea's recent actions have raised the stakes in the most critical international challenge of Trump's presidency.
The U.S. leader, who will visit South Korea on the trip, has rattled some allies with his vow to 'totally destroy' North Korea if it threatens the United States and with his dismissal of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a 'rocket man' on a suicide mission.
Abe, with whom Trump has bonded through multiple summits and phone calls, repeated at the same news conference that Japan backed Trump's stance that 'all options' are on the table, saying it was time to exert maximum pressure on North Korea and the two countries were '100 percent' together on the issue.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying, in response to Abe's comments, said that the North Korean 'situation' was 'already extremely complex, sensitive and weak'.
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The U.S. president is on the second day of a 12-day Asian trip that is focusing on North Korea's nuclear missile programmes and trade
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Heritage: Melania Trump and Akie Abe, wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, visited Mikimoto Pearl in Tokyo, Japan
'We hope that under the present circumstances, all sidesâ words and actions can help reduce tensions and reestablish mutual trust and getting the North Korean nuclear issue back on the correct track of dialogue and negotiations,' she said.
Trump said he was committed to achieving 'free, fair, and reciprocal' trade and wants to work with Japan on this issue.
'America is also committed to improving our economic relationship with Japan,' Trump said. 'As president, I'm committed to achieving fair, free, and reciprocal trading relationship. We seek equal and reliable access for American exports to Japan's markets in order to eliminate our chronic trade imbalances and deficits with Japan.'
Earlier, speaking to Japanese and U.S. business executives, Trump praised Japan for buying U.S. military hardware.
But he added that 'many millions of cars are sold by Japan into the United States, whereas virtually no cars go from the United States into Japan'.
Japan had a $69 billion trade surplus with the United States last year, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The United States was Japan's second biggest trade partner after China, while Japan was the United States' fourth largest goods export market in 2016.
Japanese officials have countered U.S. trade complaints by noting Tokyo accounts for a much smaller slice of the U.S. deficit than in the past, while China's imbalance is bigger.
In a second round of economic talks in Washington last month, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso, who doubles as deputy premier, failed to bridge differences on trade issues.
The two sides are at odds over how to frame future trade talks, with Tokyo pushing back against U.S. calls to discuss a bilateral free trade agreement.
Trump also said earlier that an Indo-Pacific trade framework would produce more in trade that the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact pushed by his predecessor but which he announced Washington would abandon soon after he took office.
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US First Lady Melania Trump poses with more than a dozen fourth graders at the Kyobashi Tsukiji elementary school in Tokyo on Monday
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Mrs Trump visited the Tokyo school on Monday with Japan's First Lady, Akie Abe, the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
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About 300 children welcomed them with a school song before Mrs Trump posed for photos, shook hands and slapped high fives with kids
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Melania Trump and Akie Abe beamed as they spoke to the hundreds of school children in the elementary school's gymnasium
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Melania Trump and Akie Abe held up peace signs as they posed with dozens of fourth graders at Kyobashi Tsukiji elementary school
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Melania Trump uses a brush to write Japanese word 'Peace' helped by a schoolgirl while attending a calligraphy class of the 4th grader at Kyobashi Tsukiji Elementary School
The 11 remaining nations in the TPP, to which Japan's Abe is firmly committed, are edging closer to sealing a comprehensive free trade pact without the United States.
Trump met Emperor Akihito, exchanging a handshake and nodding, before his lunch and talks with Abe.
He also met relatives of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents decades ago to help train spies, calling the kidnappings a 'tremendous disgrace' and pledging to work with Abe to bring the victims 'back to Japan where they want to be'.
'I think it would be a tremendous signal if Kim Jong Un would send them back,' Trump said. 'If he would send them back, that would be the start of something, something very special.'
Abe has made resolving the emotive abductions issue a keystone of his career. The families hope their talks with Trump - the third U.S. president they have met - will somehow contribute to a breakthrough, although experts say progress is unlikely.
Abe also expressed his condolences for the victims of a gunman who massacred at least 26 worshippers at a church in Texas.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump had no plans to change the schedule for his 12-day Asian trip, which will also take him to Seoul, Beijing and Danang, Vietnam.
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In a calligraphy class, Mrs Abe looks on as Mrs Trump write the first character for the word 'peace' in Japanses kanji
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Mrs Trump is accompanying her husband, President Donald Trump, on her first Asian tour, which kicked off in Japan
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Melania Trump, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife Akie show off calligraphy they wrote as they attend a calligraphy class of the 4th grader at Kyobashi Tsukiji Elementary School
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Fourth graders Kyobashi Tsukiji Elementary School posed for a photo during the calligraphy class after the first ladies wrote the word 'peace'
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Melania Trump, third from left, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife Akie, left, watch schoolchildren as they attend a calligraphy class
