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The Japanese government is now facing criticism over a doctored group photo taken last week, featuring recently appointed Cabinet ministers. The image, which showed PM Shigeru Ishiba and Defence Minister Gen Nakatani with their trousers sagging, drew mockery online. After this, officials demanded that the photo be edited to make them look less unkempt read more
 "What's the controversy surrounding Japan’s new PM, ministers’ group photo?")
The picture was released by Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s office on his X page and was taken last Tuesday following the first meeting of Japan’s new Cabinet. Image Courtesy: @shigeruishiba/X
On Monday, the Japanese government was compelled to admit that it had doctored images of its new Cabinet following online ridicule for their untidy clothes.
Social media users with keen eyes have noticed the editing was done over the clothes of the country’s senior officials.
The development comes just a week after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba took charge of the country.
Here’s all we know about it.
The controversy
The picture was released by Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s office on his X page and was taken last Tuesday following the first meeting of Japan’s new Cabinet.
The digital manipulation was discovered when numerous media outlets noticed that the images captured by their photographers seemed to differ significantly from what was posted on the PM’s Office website.
Images from the government website show PM Ishiba and Defence Minister Gen Nakatani tucked in, but images from the local press showed their white shirts poking out from under their black tailcoats over their belts and their trousers sagging.
Several ministers can be seen on the website photo with their positions slightly adjusted for prominence.
石破内閣の発足です。 pic.twitter.com/1y6imwM0Ix
— 石破茂 (@shigeruishiba) October 1, 2024‘Untidy Cabinet’
Internet users criticised the white shirts sticking out of the tailcoats in the picture, calling them “untidy Cabinet.”
“This is more hideous than a group picture of some kind of a seniors’ club during a trip to a hot spring. It’s utterly embarrassing,” one user wrote on X.
Another user said it was clear the cabinet members were wearing suits in the incorrect size, the BBC reported.
Others agreed have been referring to the cabinet — and their trousers — as “ill-fitting,” according to local media.
Government’s response
Reporters questioned government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi on Monday on the altered image, and Hayashi replied, “It did go through minor edits.”
“Commemorative photos such as when Cabinets are formed or other group photos taken during official events at the Prime Minister’s Office will remain as memorabilias for the participants for a very long time,” he said.
“And therefore my understanding is that slight edits have been conducted in the past, not just for this photo you inquired about.”
A few people in Japan agreed with the government’s acknowledgement.
“It’s just an edit, give them a break. But if you’re going go ahead and do it, fix the creases in suit,” one user wrote on X, commenting on the Japanese Cabinet picture.
The new Cabinet
PM Ishiba on Tuesday unveiled his cabinet as he seeks to heal party divisions.
With only two women in comparatively small roles among the 19-member team, the new Cabinet has also come under fire for gender disparity. This is in contrast to the five women in the outgoing Cabinet.
The Cabinet includes two leadership rivals in key positions, Katsunobu Kato as finance minister and Yoshimasa Hayashi to stay on as chief cabinet secretary, a post that includes the role of top government spokesperson, the government announced.
A close Ishiba ally, Takeshi Iwaya, a former defence chief, takes over as foreign minister, while Gen Nakatani returns to the Defence Ministry, a position he held in 2016. Yoji Muto, a former junior minister, has taken charge at the economy, trade and industry ministry.
Ishiba assumed office last week after being chosen as the new leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. He beat Sanae Takaichi, who, if she had won, would have become Japan’s first female PM.
He replaced outgoing PM Fumio Kishida as chief of the country’s ruling party.
Ishiba has already announced plans for a snap election on October 27.
“It is important for the new administration to be judged by the people as soon as possible,” he told a news conference in Tokyo.
The election, which is set to take place more than a year before it is due, will decide which party controls parliament’s lower house.
In the election, Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party will be looking to secure another term in office. The party has been in power almost entirely uninterrupted for the past 68 years. This is aside from brief spells in opposition in the 1990s and in the 2000s.
Polling for the upcoming election suggests the party is on track to secure a further four years in power.
Similar instances
Despite minor, the modifications cast doubt on the reliability of official photos by adding the Japanese government to an increasing list of governments and royal families worldwide who have altered their photos.
A Mother’s Day picture of Kate, the Princess of Wales, with her three children, made headlines around the world in March. Upon discovering multiple inconsistencies, foreign news outlets removed the picture.
It was Kate’s first photo following her unexplained abdominal surgery in January. Her prolonged recovery and lack of an explanation following the procedure sparked a conspiracy and fuelled rumours about her whereabouts.
Kate apologised for the confusion and clarified that she was simply experimenting with editing.
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” Kate said in a statement. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.”
With inputs from agencies
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