In a light-hearted April Fools’ Day post on Facebook, Akio Yaita, director of the Taipei branch of Japan’s Sankei Shimbun, shared some amusing anecdotes about the day of pranks. Yaita mentioned famous pranks by media outlets such as the BBC broadcasting a program about a spaghetti tree in 1957 and the “Tokyo Shimbun” joking about changing the rules of football for the World Cup.
Yaita also took a jab at China’s official media, the Xinhua News Agency, for publishing an article in 2016 condemning April Fools’ Day as not in line with Chinese cultural values and socialism. He joked that while other countries only have one day of pranks, in China, every day feels like April Fools’ Day due to the constant flow of misinformation from Xinhua News Agency.
In a playful “Little Easter Egg” post, Yaita shared a picture of Ma Ying-jeou’s speech before heading to China, insinuating that his words about peace and friendship were just an April Fools’ Day joke. Yaita’s humorous take on the day of pranks brought some laughter to Chinese netizens who read his post.