Auto-Translation Turns 'Rahman' Into 'Hasina' in Japanese MP's Post, Spreading Confusion

Yasutoshi Nishimura, a member of Japan's Diet and a former finance and trade minister, met Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who is visiting Japan, on Tuesday. After the meeting, he shared a photo with a caption on his verified X handle.

In that Japanese-language caption, Nishimura referred to Bangladesh's prime minister as Tarique 'Rahman', but X's automatic translation rendered it in English as 'Hasina'.

However, translations of the original Japanese caption shared on Nishimura's X handle by Google Translate as well as ChatGPT and Gemini referred to the prime minister as 'Rahman'.

Because of this confusion, many people are sharing screenshots of the post's English translation on X and other social media. Yet in the original Japanese post, the Japanese MP referred to him as 'Prime Minister Rahman'.

In his post, Nishimura wrote that he serves as secretary-general of the parliamentary friendship group formed with Bangladesh, which is chaired by Taro Aso.

According to the post, the prime minister sought Japan's support in areas such as human resource development. Describing Bangladesh as an emerging country of 170 million people, Nishimura wrote that it is the first emerging country with which Japan agreed to conclude an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). He also said in the post that relations would continue to be strengthened.