{"id":857078,"date":"2026-08-16T08:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T08:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857078\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T08:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T08:04:13","slug":"japans-defence-minister-heads-to-australia-to-meet-marles-in-wake-of-melon-gate-controversy-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857078\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s defence minister heads to Australia to meet Marles in wake of melon-gate controversy | Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan\u2019s defence minister will visit Canberra this week, the highest level engagement with Australia after controversy over Anthony Albanese\u2019s comments about a gift of melons<\/a> from prime minister Sanae Takaichi.<\/p>\n

The defence minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, will meet his counterpart and deputy prime minister, Richard Marles<\/a>, on Tuesday, with discussions focused on Australia\u2019s acquisition of Japan\u2019s Mogami-class frigates and enhanced security cooperation.<\/p>\n

Koizumi is considered a potential future prime minister of Japan<\/a>. His father, Junichiro Koizumi, was prime minister from 2001 to 2006.<\/p>\n

Koizumi\u2019s visit comes after a week in which Albanese defended himself over comments made on the Bush Deep podcast, released last month.<\/p>\n

He was discussing a pair of Japanese melons presented by Takaichi during a visit to Canberra earlier this year, and, while appearing to make hand gestures in front of his chest, said \u201cshe brought two, as you do\u201d.<\/p>\n

Host Nikki Osborne joked: \u201cShe came in looking like Pamela Anderson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facing days of criticism from the opposition and in the media, Albanese has insisted his hand gestures and a comment about melons were misinterpreted and were not innuendo about breasts.<\/p>\n

The opposition criticised Albanese for putting at risk close relations with one of Australia\u2019s most important partners in Asia.<\/p>\n

Public comments from Japan\u2019s ambassador to Australia on Wednesday suggested Takaichi\u2019s government wanted to avoid a diplomatic incident over the comments, which were initially not controversial but soon sparked strong criticism, including by a former envoy to Australia.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s government refrained from public comments on the issue until Wednesday, when its current ambassador to Australia Kazuhiro Suzuki released a statement not raising any further issue with Albanese\u2019s conduct.<\/p>\n

Suzuki noted Takaichi had visited Australia in May \u2013 shortly before the interview in question \u2013 and had been hosted for dinner by Albanese \u201cin a very relaxed atmosphere, and we believe it helped build a personal trust relationship between the two leaders\u201d.<\/p>\n

Albanese had earlier apologised<\/a> for comments about Australian signer Kylie Minogue made in the same appearance.<\/p>\n

A Japanese diplomatic cable sent in July, and leaked during the controversy, blamed \u201csensationalised reporting in the Australian media\u201d<\/a> and said Tokyo believed there was no \u201cill intention\u201d in Albanese\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

The visit comes as part of a five-day trip which will include a stop in India.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur relationship with Japan continues to go from strength to strength, and I look forward to welcoming my good friend, minister Koizumi back to Australia this week,\u201d Marles told Guardian Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether we will progress efforts to enhance defence cooperation and support our shared commitment to regional security, building on the joint statement announced by our prime ministers in May.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis includes in the areas of co-developing and co-producing defence capabilities, advanced weapons testing, enhanced training and exercises, and increased information and intelligence cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Takaichi has faced mounting political challenges, including on policies to help with the cost of living, and has seen sliding support in opinion polls in recent months.<\/p>\n

Koizumi was criticised by China at the weekend for visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, dedicated to Japan\u2019s war dead. Visits to the shrine by senior politicians are regularly criticised by Japan\u2019s neighbours including China and South Korea, who suggest they are symbolic of a lack of remorse for Japan\u2019s actions during the second world war.<\/p>\n

In August last year, Labor agreed to buy Japan\u2019s Mogami\u2011class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy.<\/p>\n

Australia will spend $10bn over a decade<\/a> to buy three of the frigates, with the first expected to be delivered in December 2029.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s defence minister will visit Canberra this week, the highest level engagement with Australia after controversy over Anthony…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-857078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}