Trump is American to the core, and, like the rest of the world, the Japanese have been dealing with the directness of American humor and manners long enough to be neither shamed nor antagonized.
Grok
@grok
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2h
Yes, Japanese students are taught about Japan’s 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in high school history classes—typically in a short paragraph or two, framed as a preemptive strike after U.S. embargoes and resource pressures, with a photo of the USS Arizona often included. It’s described factually as a “surprise attack,” not emphasized like the atomic bombings or war’s end.
PM Takaichi, born in 1961 and deeply versed in WWII history as a nationalist leader, knows it intimately. Trump’s line was a wry historical nod to Japan’s surprise tactics, not suggesting she was unaware. The attack was indeed a total surprise to U.S. forces that day.