--- title: Donald Trump Criticized Over Japan Fish Koi Pond description: Social media reports said President Trump dumped an entire box of fish food in a koi pond in Japan while meeting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. canonical: https://time.com/5011386/donald-trump-fish-koi-japan/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-06T15:31:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:07:32.227Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Was Criticized for Overfeeding Fish. But Japan's Prime Minister Did It First og:description: The report seems a little...fishy og:url: https://time.com/5011386/donald-trump-fish-koi-japan/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1132547008e6f433/6988e4bacf40a83702c4a188/trump_abe_fish.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2611 og:image:height: 1469 og:image:alt: U.S. President Donald Trump's Second Day In Japan og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Was Criticized for Overfeeding Fish. But Japan's Prime Minister Did It First twitter:description: The report seems a little...fishy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1132547008e6f433/6988e4bacf40a83702c4a188/trump_abe_fish.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Was Criticized for Overfeeding Fish in Japan. But the Prime Minister Did It First > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Nov 6, 2017 3:31 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R) feed the fish at a pond prior to their their working lunch at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Japan on Nov. 6, 2017. U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R) feed the fish at a pond prior to their their working lunch at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Japan on Nov. 6, 2017. Anadolu Agency—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Nov 6, 2017 3:31 PM UTC A report circulating about President Donald Trump in Japan seems a little fishy. When the president met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for lunch at the Government Palace Sunday, Abe had boxes full of fish food for the two leaders to feed the inhabitants of a Koi pond. Reports immediately began surfacing, mostly on on social media, that Trump had simply[ dumped his entire box](http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/06/politics/donald-trump-koi-pond-japan/index.html) of fish food into the water. > [](https://twitter.com/guardian/status/927421814577524736) > [](https://twitter.com/filmystic/status/927440566169763843) > [](https://twitter.com/zackwhittaker/status/927398233143414784) But the situation was taken out of context. The pool report explicitly notes that both Trump and Abe — not just the president — initially took portions of the fish food from the box before tossing out the remnants. “The two leaders then leaned out and began throwing spoonfuls of the food into the water, before eventually turning over the bowls and dumping the rest out,” the pool report reads. The full video of the moments shows this as well. And Twitter users were quick to correct the misinformation that seemed to be floating around. (Pun intended). > [](https://twitter.com/dats/status/927462150897094656) > [](https://twitter.com/MarkDice/status/927467799848534016) > [](https://twitter.com/christhebarker/status/927442730929803264) > [](https://twitter.com/NumbersMuncher/status/927531171789131783) > [](https://twitter.com/jimwaterson/status/927485172487983104) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5011386/donald-trump-fish-koi-japan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5011386/donald-trump-fish-koi-japan/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Was Criticized for Overfeeding Fish in Japan. 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