Ryan Zinke branded 'insensitive' for responding 'Konnichiwa' to congresswoman's story about Japanese internment camps

The congresswoman was asking about a programme that Congress established to preserve sites where Japanese-Americans were detained during the Second World War

Democrats have slammed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke for a “insensitive” remark he made in response to a congresswoman’s story about her grandfathers’ detention in Japanese internment camps during the Second World War.

During a congressional hearing with Mr Zinke, Representative Colleen Hanabusa discussed her grandfathers’ incarceration by the US government to explain why the secretary should restore about $2m in funding for organisations dedicated to preserving the memory of that ugly chapter in American history.

The Democrat said one of her grandfathers, who was “in essence” US citizen by birth, didn’t speak about his painful experience.

“I believe that it is essential that we as a nation recognise our darkest moments so that we don’t have them repeat again,” Ms Hanabusa told the interior secretary.

After listening to her concerns, Mr Zinke responded with a cheery “konnichiwa”, the Japanese word for “good day” or “good afternoon”.

A person sitting in the hearing appeared to gasp at the remark.

Ms Hanabusa responded by saying, “I think it’s still ‘ohayo gozaimasu’ [good morning], but that’s OK.”

Mr Zinke said he would “look into” issue of the grant funding, saying its elimination was “likely an oversight.”

“I understand the importance of it to American history,” he said.

But multiple Democratic members of Congress still took to Twitter to condemn Mr Zinke’s “konnichiwa” remark.

Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono, who spent part of her childhood in Japan, said “the internment of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans is no laughing matter”.

“What you thought was a clever response to @RepHanabusa was flippant & juvenile,” she wrote to Mr Zinke on Twitter.

Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth tweeted a link to an article about the exchange with the statement, “Nope. Racism is not ok”.

Meanwhile, Democratic Representative Grace Meng called the remark “blatantly insensitive”.

“This blatantly insensitive remark by @secretaryzinke is uncalled for and is not behavior that a cabinet secretary should exhibit,” she tweeted.

Ms Hanabusa had been asking about the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program, which Congress established to preserve sites where Japanese-Americans were detained during the Second World War, a time of rampant anti-Japanese sentiment.

As Ms Hanabusa noted, Mr Trump’s 2019 budget proposal, released in February, would eliminate the programme – a move widely criticised by Japanese-American activists.

“The JACS grant program is an important component of our country’s recognition of the egregious wrong that was done, and the need to remember and preserve that history so that it not be repeated,” the Japanese American Citizens League wrote in a statement.