Japanese journalist who asked Trump a question faces intense online abuse

Ask AI · How did Chihiwa Iwamori Mori get pulled into an online mob frenzy over her background in China?

On-site: Trump meets Sanae Takichihaya and brings up “the attack on Pearl Harbor”

His name is Chihiwa Iwamori Mori. He’s from Japan’s TV Asahi.

Local time on March 19, U.S. President Donald Trump held a meeting at the White House with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takichihaya. At the time, a reporter from Japanese media asked Trump a question about Iran. The reporter asked why the U.S. president, before taking military action, did not notify allies—including Japan.

Trump then responded by citing the incident from Japan’s past, when it attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, saying that Japan is the one that’s best at staging sneak attacks. This briefly left Takichihaya’s face showing an awkward expression.

However, when facing Trump’s joke about Japan’s history of invasion during World War II, the right-wing forces in Japan that support Takichihaya did not, as they usually do, attack the U.S. while also denying Japan’s war crimes. Instead, they vented their anger at the Japanese reporter who had asked Trump the question—Chihiwa Iwamori Mori of TV Asahi.

Pictured is Chihiwa Iwamori Mori, the reporter who asked Trump the question at the time

Judging from posts on Japanese social networks, Takichihaya’s supporters have, over the past few hours, been using extremely vicious language to attack the veteran reporter. They believe he asked a “stupid” question, which angered Trump—leading Trump to mention Pearl Harbor in front of Takichihaya, humiliating Japan.

Although some Japanese netizens with clear heads believe the responsibility does not really lie with Chihiwa Iwamori Mori, but rather that Trump confused the question of “why not tell the allies” with “why not tell the enemy.” Others also noted that when Chihiwa Iwamori Mori had previously reported on Takichihaya, he actually took considerable care of this Japanese prime minister’s feelings. But these voices were quickly drowned out by the online mob frenzy of Takichihaya’s supporters targeting Chihiwa Iwamori Mori.

At present, some of Takichihaya’s supporters are rallying, calling for TV Asahi to ban Chihiwa Iwamori Mori. One supporter even only because Chihiwa Iwamori Mori had previously been the director of TV Asahi’s China bureau—has spun up conspiracy theories, spreading rumors that he was deliberately helping China to embarrass Takichihaya.

As for the farce by Takichihaya’s supporters—“not to solve the problem, but to deal with the person who raised the question”—foreign netizens who were watching the incident commented, saying that what Chihiwa Iwamori Mori asked was actually a “great question” that America’s allies all wanted to know.

Others have also pointed out that Trump would use Pearl Harbor to make jokes about Takichihaya and Japan, but that was once again proof that what he cares about has always been U.S. interests, not Japan—except that compared with Chihiwa Iwamori Mori, who actually asked the questions, Takichihaya, who chose to flatter and cater to the U.S., could only rely on her supporters to bully the reporter to smooth things over and save face.

Reviewed by | Zhou Yang

Edited by | Xu Xuan

Proofread by | Guo Weitong