Rahm Emanuel’s penchant for controversy is apparently not limited to U.S. borders. The former Obama White House chief of staff and mayor of Chicago, now the U.S. ambassador to Japan, has irked some Japanese politicians with a video strongly advocating for LGBTQ rights and same-sex marriage in the nation, with some arguing he was interfering too much in Japanese domestic policy. “If Ambassador Emanuel wants to use his position as U.S. ambassador to Japan in any way to influence Japan, we will take immediate action to make him go back to his country,” wrote one Liberal Democratic member of the upper house of the Diet, Japan’s equivalent to parliament, on Twitter. “How to promote understanding of LGBT people is a matter for us to decide domestically.” Others argued that outside voices such as Emanuel’s can help sway political opinions. Emanuel told The New York Times he was only elevating U.S. policy—and, he said, Japan‘s majority opinion. “The Japanese public has been clear about their position of inclusion and equity,” Emanuel said. “So I’m not a solo voice.”
