No Duterte meeting with Japan emperor, no faux pas

TOKYO—The death of an uncle in the imperial household on Thursday prompted the cancellation of President Duterte’s call on revered Emperor Akihito and defused faux pas jitters over the Philippine leader’s behavior in front of the Japanese monarch.

Concerns about Mr. Duterte’s manners spiked after a video last week of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping showed him apparently chewing gum—considered rude in Japan for such an occasion.

He was also seen standing at the event with his hands in his pockets, another no-no.

Mr. Duterte condoled with the emperor on the death of Prince Mikasa, the youngest brother of his father, Emperor Hirohito. Mikasa, the oldest member of the imperial household, was 100.

The President announced during an interview in Yokohama, where he visited the Japan Coast Guard regional headquarters, that his call on Akihito was not pushing through. The Philippine and Japanese flags flew at half-staff at the Coast Guard office.

Mr. Duterte said a protocol officer told him not to go to the Imperial Palace, as the royal family was in mourning.

“And I respect that because I would ask for the same, maybe, request if I were in his shoes,” he said.

Faux pas feared

The courtesy call on the 82-year-old emperor would have been Mr. Duterte’s last activity during his three-day visit to Japan.

His scheduled meeting with Akihito  reportedly generated concern among the protocol-conscious Japanese, who worry that the sometimes irreverent Philippine leader might commit a faux pas.

Some Japanese were worried Duterte would offend the deeply respected figurehead.

Japan’s emperors were once worshiped as living demigods and the Chrysanthemum Throne is still venerated by much of the public, despite being largely stripped of its mystique and quasi-divine status in the aftermath of World War II.

Most Japanese bow when meeting the emperor, though foreigners generally shake his hand.

“Why did you put your hands in your pockets and chew gum in front of President Xi Jinping?” asked Kunihiko Miyake, a former diplomat, in a column published in the conservative Sankei Shimbun on Thursday.

“Some see them as simple rudeness but I suspect these are also performances,” he added, noting Mr. Duterte’s privileged upbringing—his father was a lawyer and his mother a teacher—while the President himself is a one-time prosecutor.

Former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Fuji TV on Sunday that how Mr. Duterte behaved when meeting Akihito could even impact on the two countries’ relationship.

“I hope the Philippine side will remind him of that point,” Onodera said.

‘Please behave’

Social media users also expressed concern.

“Is it going to be alright?” one Twitter user wondered. “I hope he won’t chew gum like he did in China.”

“Duterte, I beg you, please behave well at least in front of the emperor,” said another Twitter post.

But Seiichi Igarashi, associate professor of international politics at Chiba University, said Mr. Duterte was unlikely to be rude.

“It’s hard to predict what he’s going to say … But he says he’s pro-Japanese and he hasn’t made any hostile remarks against Japan,” Igarashi said.

All those worries appeared unfounded.

Since arriving in Tokyo on Tuesday, Mr. Duterte had avoided any major trouble, though he kept up a barrage of insults against Washington. A summit meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday went off without a hitch. —WITH A REPORT FROM AFP