Bush Vomits on the Japanese PM (1992)
This Day (An America 250 History Show)
Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia
4.5 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2021
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s January 8th. On this day in 1992, President George HW Bush, on a diplomatic trip to Japan, ate some bad food and vomited during a state dinner, right onto the lap of the Japanese Prime Minister.
Jody and Niki discuss the event, the larger context of US-Japan relationships, and what counts as a gaffe in American politics. Plus, some thoughts on other embarrassing political moments.
Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everyone Jody here you know it's generally not a good sign when I have to come in with one of these messages before our episode |
| 0:07.2 | it usually means that you know something not esoteric and something not from history is going on in the world. |
| 0:14.0 | We decided to hold off on publishing this episode at our normal time. |
| 0:18.5 | We'd recorded it in advance, but given what is going on in DC this week, it just didn't feel right to put it out the very day after. |
| 0:25.9 | We also decided not to do a special episode because while there are certainly moments where |
| 0:30.4 | history can give you context for what you are seeing. |
| 0:33.7 | One, we don't know exactly what we're witnessing just yet in our politics. |
| 0:38.2 | Everything is changing really fast and everything feels on the table, feels possible. And two, sometimes you kind of just have to pay attention full attention to the |
| 0:47.8 | history being made right in front of you anyway that is a very long very fraught way to introduce an episode about George Bush vomiting in the lap of the Japanese Prime Minister, but hey, that is the episode that is on the calendar. |
| 1:01.0 | That is the episode we are bringing you now now maybe it will give you a bit of a |
| 1:04.4 | distraction or perspective or whatever maybe it will serve as a reminder that we will get back to a world |
| 1:09.8 | in which stuff like this counts as the political news of the day. |
| 1:13.7 | But on behalf of everyone on the show, |
| 1:15.9 | hope you're holding up out there, be in touch, and here we go. |
| 1:20.3 | Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia. My name is Jody Abergen. |
| 1:29.0 | This day, January 8, 1992 at about 8.20 PM Japan time. |
| 1:35.0 | Well, you know, some leads, they just write themselves. |
| 1:38.0 | While attending a banquet hosted by the Prime Minister of Japan, |
| 1:41.5 | Kichy Miyazawa, U.S. President George H.W. Bush vomited in Mr. |
| 1:46.7 | Miyazawa's lap. And then he fainted. So, Nicole Hammer, we have to make this show about 15 minutes long. |
| 1:53.8 | We are about 45 seconds in, so we have about 14 minutes or so of vomit content. |
| 2:00.4 | We're on the clock. |
... |
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