A close aide to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said U.S. President-elect Donald Trump pitches his opinions in a "hysterical" manner and urged him to behave more "gently."
"You behave more quietly and calmly. Be more gentle," Toshihiro Nikai, the No. 2 man in Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Friday during the recording of a TV program to be broadcast later, referring Trump's way of blaming Japan and other countries for the U.S. trade deficit.
The LDP secretary-general also questioned Trump's demand that Japan pay more for hosting the U.S. military presence, asking: "Is it suitable for the president of a superpower to rant something in a unilateral and hysterical manner?"
The veteran lawmaker who has held a number of key posts, including trade minister and head of the LDP General Council, the party's top decision-making body.
Nikai also lashed out at Trump in connection with his criticism of Toyota Motor Corp.'s plan to build a factory in Mexico, and his threat to slap heavy duties on Toyota vehicles shipped to the U.S. from there.
Japanese companies are doing business "complying with international rules," Nikai said, adding that no matter how Trump threatens Toyota, it will make little difference.