AOC Called Out for Her Social Criticisms of Japan During Congressional Trip to Asia

United States Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is apparently having difficulty with the fact people in Asia look at things like transgender issues differently and tend not to use America’s woke alphabet.

That said, the Congresswoman is being criticized for the way she called out Japan for not being tolerant enough during a congressional trip to Asia.

Ocasio-Cortez reprimanded Japan in an almost 40-minute-long Instagram video rant, during which she said that she was shocked at “very discriminatory” comments from a member of the Japanese government about the LGBT (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender) community.

“There was a member of the Japanese administration that was caught in off-the-record comments making very discriminatory statements about LGBT people,” she explained in the Instagram video she streamed live earlier this week.

“It is quite shocking, I think it’s fair to characterize this as [a] pretty shocking development,” Ocasio-Cortez added.

“It is our view that marriage equality and LGBT protections being enacted in Japan would [play] a very strong and important role in U.S. and Japan relations,” the congresswoman said.

Ocasio-Cortez’s advice to Japan on how to conduct its affairs was not received well at all by political commentators or journalists.

Commentator Ian Miles Cheong summed up the congresswoman’s visit in a tweet: “AOC is currently in Japan demanding that their government embrace LGBTQ alphabet wokeness, or else.”

“Japan’s internal affairs are none of AOC’s business,” retorted journalist Sameera Khan, who shared headlines from Time and Bloomberg News on the controversial visit.

“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats urge Japan to advance LGBT rights,” Time headlined. “Ocasio-Cortez says it’s ‘critical’ Japan moves forward with LGBTQ rights,” Bloomberg wrote.

Ocasio-Cortez told her over 8.6 million followers on Instagram that “Japan is the only member of the G-7 that does not have marriage equality and LGBT anti-discrimination equality protections in place.”

The original video she posted to Instagram has already received over 520,000 likes.

“The more we can all share our values across countries, the more we can cooperate,” Ocasio-Cortez said of the U.S. and Japan.

She also emphasized the importance of “women’s rights and LGBT, trans rights and marriage equality” not just in Japan, but “across borders” also.

Ocasio-Cortez caused surprise when she visited the nuclear accident site in Fukushima, Japan, and shared her thoughts about the experience in a number of lengthy Instagram stories.

“For me, understanding + studying the science and scale of radiation puts me more at ease. More information makes me feel better. But that might not be the case for everyone,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote about her realizations in Fukushima.

One Twitter user focused on energy policy called it a “[m]assive cultural shift” in the favor of nuclear energy. “She has 9 million followers, many of whom are young women.”

“I don’t take a strong anti- or pro- position on it,” Ocasio-Cortez said on nuclear energy in 2019, according to the Morning Consult.

The congresswoman, an avid environmentalist, reportedly said at the time that her “Green New Deal” plan “leaves the door open on nuclear so that we can have that conversation.”