Jacinda Ardern, the current Prime Minister of New Zealand, was appointed at the age of 37. Since becoming Prime Minister, she has been pregnant, given birth, and taken maternity leave, attended UN conferences with her children, and introduced gun control just one month after the Christchurch shooting. She is a Prime Minister who is often in the global spotlight.
By the way, it will probably take another 200 years for a female prime minister to be born in Japan, but it has been 22 years since New Zealand had a female prime minister. Jacinda is the third. NZ is also known as the seventh country in the world with the smallest gender gap.
Recently, the popular American talk show host, comedian and author Stephen Colbert visited New Zealand and the special episode recorded during his visit, "Stephen Colbert: The Newest New Zealander", was broadcast over five episodes and became a hot topic.
The video is only in English, but the first one focuses on Jacinda. Not only does it give you a good understanding of Jacinda, but it's also full of typical New Zealand elements!
Jacinda Ardern personally greeted me at the airport! The surprisingly friendly New Zealand Prime Minister
The New Zealand Prime Minister personally welcomed Stephen at the airport and invited him to his home.
Not only did Jacinda greet us, but she also personally drove the car!
In fact, Jacinda has appeared as a guest on Stephen Colbert's talk show twice in the past, and invited Stephen to New Zealand each time. Furthermore, on the second occasion, she even said that she would pick him up at the airport! This time, that promise was fulfilled.
At 4:11 in the video, Jacinda can be seen greeting someone in a car parked next to her at an intersection.
Steven
(Seeing Jacinda make eye contact with the people in the car next to her and wave back) "Do you know them?"
Jacinda
"No, I don't know you." (Stephen joins in and greets the person next to him.)
The person in the next car
"(Looking at Jacinda and the others) Maybe I know you!"
Stephen
"(pointing at Jacinda) Her? Or me?"
The person in the next car
"No, it's Jacinda." (Very calmly)
A casual conversation is exchanged.
The Kiwis remain calm even when they encounter the Prime Minister of a country, and Jacinda remains calm even when her face is recognized. ("When do Kiwis get excited when they encounter a celebrity? I guess it's only the All Blacks," a Kiwi commented.)
Jacinda's fiancé, Clarke Gayford, also appeared in flip-flops.
You can see Jacinda being interviewed by Stephen at her home in the suburbs of Auckland at 4:53 in the video.
Jacinda is currently engaged to her longtime partner Clarke Gayford. The interview proceeds in a casual atmosphere, as she laughs wryly when Steven says he wants to be the officiant at their wedding, and asks Clark off-screen, "What do you think?"
Clarke Gayford is a TV and radio presenter who presents the fishing show " Fish of the Day " and is a lifelong fishing enthusiast.
When he came to Japan in September when the Rugby World Cup started, he also met Sakana-kun (and Prime Minister Abe and his wife)!
Clark learned the names of fish caught in New Zealand's waters in Latin, English and Maori before he was 10 years old. Clark may be called New Zealand's "fish boy."
After Steven's interview, we had a New Zealand style barbecue in the garden. Lorde, a New Zealand artist who is also very popular in the US, joined us and enjoyed a sausage sizzle.
Sausage sizzle is a very simple thing that consists of a cheap, large, slightly junky sausage that is grilled and wrapped in thin white bread with plenty of butter. In NZ (and Australia), it is often served at charity events, similar to what we would call food stalls in Japan. It is also common to see fundraising events where children grill and make their own sausages and sell them to raise funds for school activities.
When Clark appeared on the show he was dressed in typical Kiwi attire: a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops.
By the way, in NZ, these flip-flops are called Japanese Sandles, or Jandles for short. In America, they are called Flip-flips, and in neighboring Australia, they are called Thongs. Since flip-flops were originally invented in Japan, the first person to bring them to NZ trademarked Jandles, an abbreviation of Japanese Sandles, as the product name, and they continued to be called flip-flops.
What new did Kiwis learn about Jacinda?
When Stephen Colbert's video was released, it became a hot topic in various New Zealand media outlets, and here we'd like to introduce one of those articles, "Five things Stephen Colbert taught us about our Prime Minister."
1. Jacinda's screen saver features a grumpy Neve
Stephen took Jacinda's smartphone away from her. The wallpaper was a picture of her daughter Neve, looking a little unhappy.
2. Jacinda Ardern auditioned for Lord of the Rings and didn't get cast
Jacinda auditioned for the movie "Lord of the Rings" but unfortunately failed. It is a mystery whether director Peter Jackson knows about this...
3. Our Prime Minister can hold a tune
Jacinda sings Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the car with Stephen (from 3:30 in the video). It seems she was in tune.
Stephen tries to access Jacinda's smartphone, but the Kiwis are relieved to find that there are no security risks, such as the password being written down somewhere and being her daughter's birth date.
5. Jacinda Ardern likes Watties tomato sauce
Kiwis love tomato sauce. Tomato sauce is ketchup, but in NZ it's called tomato sauce. Jacinda had it at her house. And of course it was from Wattie's, a New Zealand manufacturer!
Engagement gift from Stephen to Jacinda and Clark
The engagement gift that Stephen gave to Jacinda and Clark was posted to Clark's Instagram, and it was a rather witty one.
It's a standard gift to have a pair of glasses engraved with "Mr" and "Mrs," but for the couple, the glasses are engraved with "Mr" and "Prime Minister of New Zealand Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party"!
There are four other videos uploaded on Stephen Colbert's YouTube channel, so be sure to check them out!
