A photo posted by the Japanese government last week showing the nation's new prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, and members of his Cabinet looked rather standard—a bunch of serious-looking politicians dutifully lined up in suits. However, that pic didn't quite match up with reporters' images of the same scene, and a government rep now admits the photo was doctored to help clean up some of the messier-looking subjects, reports the BBC.
In pictures taken by local media, the 67-year-old prime minister and his defense minister, Gen Nakatani, can be seen in the front row of five men with their white shirts slightly peeking out from under their suit jackets. In the official photo shown on the PM's website, however, those snippets of white are gone (the Japan Times offers a side-by-side view). After some online ridicule—including on how "ill-fitting" the pants on some politicians appeared to be—a government spokesperson fessed up to the digital modification.
"It did go through minor edits," Yoshimasa Hayashi said Monday, per NBC News. He justified the alteration by noting that such "commemorative photos ... will remain as [memorabilia] for the participants for a very long time," adding that such editing has taken place before. Not everyone thought the manipulation was that big of a deal—but they hinted that maybe the person editing the pic could've done a more complete job. "It's just an edit, give them a break," one commenter wrote on X. "But if you're going go ahead and do it, fix the creases in suit." (More Japan stories.)
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