Did Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida say that "all the money that's being donated to Ukraine comes from Japanese taxpayers" at a recent NATO summit? No, that's not true: The video circulating on TikTok is an altered version of Kishida's original Vilnius Summit address in July 2023, dubbed with a different audio.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) on July 21, 2023. The video shows Prime Minister Kishida standing on the podium at the 2023 NATO Vilnius Summit, giving what appears to be the following statement:
Japanese citizens are going from one tax increase to the other [...] Japanese people work on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays specifically for the sake of taxes. We're very diligent people [...] We've been answering America's call to give money to Ukraine and we just said 'might as well,' because it's not our money that's going there, but it's the ordinary worker's hard work (that's paying for the donations).
(Translation from Japanese to English by Lead Stories staff).
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Aug 18 01:38:19 2023 UTC)
The tone of the audio is satirical, as some of the hashtags also indicate. Still, the comments below the TikTok show that some viewers believe this is what Kishida actually said.
In the official livestream of the 2023 NATO Vilnius Summit, Prime Minister Kishida's speech (beginning at the 3:26:11 mark) reads as follows, according to the official English translation provided at the summit:
I am pleased to be able to announce the joint declaration on support for Ukraine today [...] Going forward, this declaration will be open to any country that shares the intention to support Ukraine. I hope many countries choose to join. The G7 will continue to stand by Ukraine. Our solidarity will never waver.
Tax laws in Japan allow individuals who choose to donate money to Ukraine to have the donated amount deducted from their income tax, therefore reducing the tax amount they have to pay based on their contribution. Furthermore, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release regarding donations to help Ukraine states that the money will be provided through the United Nations Organization for Project Services (UNOPS). A Google search performed by Lead Stories on August 18, 2023, using the keywords "fumio kishida nato summit taxpayers money ukraine donation" did not yield any official statement or address from the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, or any other branch of the government confirming or denying whether taxpayers' money is being used to fund donations for Ukraine.
