Photo/Illutration Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun in April 2022. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

While Jacinda Ardern was the prime minister of New Zealand in 2018, she attended a banquet at Buckingham Palace in a traditional cloak of her country’s indigenous Maori people.

Adorned with feathers, it was worn over a simple brown dress. Photos of her in this garb, speaking with a smiling Queen Elizabeth II, caused a sensation.

At the time, it was less than six months since Ardern became the leader of a minority coalition government.

Prior to the visit to Britain, she had met with the president of the United States at an international conference and exhibited diplomatic skills.

Her choice of the Maori costume was daring. But it was also praised as proof of her pride in her country, as demonstrated to its former colonial ruler.

And now, here is what Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi posted on X (formerly Twitter) on her way to the latest Group of 20 summit in South Africa: “I may even hafta go overboard to score clothes that’ll let me one-up others in diplomatic negotiations.”

She went on to say that she spent hours selecting “an outfit that doesn’t look cheap” and “won’t let people underestimate me.”

The sheer frivolity—or vulgarity, if you will—of these words of our prime minister stunned me, and I couldn’t help comparing her to Ardern.

The purpose of diplomatic negotiations is not to strong-arm one’s negotiating partner, and what one wears is definitely not a tool for intimidation. Diplomacy is meant to enable different countries to understand one another and deepen their relations.

Is Takaichi deliberately saying and doing things to make herself appear tough?

During her first question-and-answer session in the Diet on Nov. 26 with the leaders of opposition parties, Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda started addressing the issue of money and politics.

But Takaichi roughly cut him short and said, “Forget that. Let’s just go ahead and reduce the number of Lower House seats.”

The leader of a nation must always show their respect for their negotiating partners, be it in diplomacy or on domestic matters.

Ardern won the hearts of people with a cloak borrowed from a Maori organization.

Sincerity trumps expensive clothes.

—The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 27

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.