Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan started a personal blog Tuesday in support of Japanese women, but inadvertently instructed women to die for Japan, Kotaku reports.
The top image of the blog shows the prime minister’s face positioned next to the English word “shine,” written in Roman letters. “Shine,” in English, obviously means for an object to be bright, glowing, or for a person to perform a task in an extraordinary fashion.
When the word “shine” is written in English, however, it looks like the Japanese word for “die.”
Supporting women, Prime Minister Abe meant to say “Shine! All Women, to a Sparkly Japan.” Instead, he said “Die! All Women, to a Sparkly Japan.”
According to the United Kingdom’s National Headlines, Prime Minister Abe was attempting to support Japanese women who work both inside and outside of the home.
Now, Japanese readers will think that their prime minister has commanded all Japanese women to die for their country.