{
  "id": 18627539,
  "title": "Lost in translation? Japanese minister blames X for diplomatic embarrassment",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/lost-in-translation-japanese-minister-blames-x-for-diplomatic",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-07T00:05:28.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dawn",
    "slug": "dawn",
    "url": "https://www.dawn.com/news/2042749/lost-in-translation-japanese-minister-blames-x-for-diplomatic-embarrassment"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "TOKYO: A Japanese minister recently criticized Elon Musk’s X social media platform, stating that it almost led him into a diplomatic predicament. The incident occurred after the platform’s automatic translation feature mistakenly implied that Trade Minister Ryosei Akazawa did not know the names of world leaders he was meeting. Akazawa informed reporters that he knew the identity of the current prime minister of Bangladesh, despite a translation error that listed ousted premier Sheikh Hasina instead. He emphasized that this issue posed a serious matter, potentially giving the Bangladeshi public the impression that he was unaware of their prime minister’s identity.\n\nOn October 28th, Akazawa posted on X, along with photographs, that he met visiting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. However, X’s machine-translation tool mistakenly translated the English version to indicate that Akazawa met Sheikh Hasina, who had been living in exile in India since an uprising in 2024. This was not the first time Akazawa had encountered translation errors on the platform. He mentioned a similar mistake had occurred after he posted about his online meeting with Kuwait’s Oil Minister Tareq Al-Roumi, where the automatic translation feature erroneously indicated a discussion with Qatar’s energy minister. Additionally, Akazawa’s translated post about a meeting with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also contained incorrect names.\n\nAkazawa expressed his frustration, stating that he had experienced these translation mishaps three times, urging X to rectify the translation tool.",
  "summary": "TOKYO: A Japanese minister blamed Elon Musk’s X social media platform on Friday for almost plunging him into diplomatic hot water, after its automatic translation feature implied he did not know the names of world leaders he was meeting. Trade Minister Ryosei Akazawa assured reporters that he knew the identity of the current prime minister of Bangladesh after a post with photos of the two…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}