Minister for Foreign Affairs’ tweet descends into emoji madness before ending on a porky cliffhanger.

Like many modern politicians, Taro Kono, Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, has a Twitter account. Some of his recent social media missives to his 500,000-plus followers have included an update on the security status of Iraq, information about a possible tax treaty between Japan and Finland, and an announcement that he’ll be attending an upcoming OECD council in Paris.

But one message in particular has sent shock waves through Japan. On Tuesday, Kono tweeted:

“Ahhh, bacon, in the end ^%£$+*•!%🌀✔️✖️🎶💱.”

In case you’re having trouble deciphering those symbols and emoji, transcribing them makes the sentence:

“Ahhh, bacon, in the end, upwards arrow percent pound dollar plus asterisk dot exclamation point whirlpool/hurricane check mark X musical notes multiple currencies.”

All of which, of course, means…actually we have no idea. We’re not the only ones stumped either, as Japanese Twitter users have been feverishly liking and retweeting the tweet from one of their nation’s most powerful politicians, leaving comments including:

“Ah, yes, I see.”
“You’ve been working too hard, Taro. Your brain is broken.”
“Explanation: Taro Kono’s official Twitter account has been hacked by bacon.”
“Minister of Bacon.”
“The taste of bacon is apparently a state secret.”

▼ “You know too much about the bacon,” says a suspicious assailant as he chloroforms Kono.

Looking through the 56-year-old politician’s tweets reveals that he also wrote about bacon the day before his mysterious tweet, including a photo of the word “bacon” written in Japanese on a piece of paper.

“I came home at 3:30 this morning, and my son was shouting “Bacon!” as loudly as he could. Why?”

However, Kono has offered no subsequent explanation for his bacon tweet that devolved into emoji gibberish half-way through. He did, however, take a snide potshot at the Japanese arm of France’s AFP news organization, which reported on the bacon mystery.

“The AFP must have a lot of free time on their hands.”

As fellow journalists, we have to disagree. Nothing is more important than holding our politicians to the highest standards of integrity, and we’re prepared to stay with this story for as long as it takes until we uncover just how much influence Big Bacon is exerting over the Japanese government…or at least until the Minister for Foreign Affairs’ tweet boosts our bacon cravings so high that we eat a whole pack of the stuff, get sleepy, and go take a nap.

Source: Twitter/@konotarogomame via AFP via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Wikipedia/Made20rder555
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he wonders where Kono stands on the issue of hash browns vs. country potatoes.