tomorrow all the things were gone I’d worked for all my life,
And I had to start again with just my children and my wife.
I’d thank my lucky stars to be livin’ here today,
’cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can’t take that away.
The tabloid Gendai and critics of Prime Minister Takaichi interpreted the English word "technically" to make it sound like she was just an intern, not a Congressional Fellow. The Japanese government asked one of her former co-workers to re-confirm that she was officially a Fellow, not an intern.
He also confirmed that her job involved work in both Washington and Denver. Some people saw an article that mentioned her doing work in Denver, and wrongly assumed that meant Takaichi didn't actually work in Washington.
When Kip Cheroutes said Takaichi was “technically a Congressional Fellow,” the natural reading is that she may have been casually called an “intern,” while her more precise status was fellow. In Washington, temporary staff of different kinds, including fellows, are often loosely referred to as interns.
Takaichi was not listed in the APSA program, but that only proves she was not an APSA fellow. APSA was one of several organizations that sponsored Congressional Fellows, and outside funding was normal. The Matsushita Institute funding her is therefore entirely consistent with a fellowship.
More importantly, Pat Schroeder wrote in 1988 that Takaichi was working in her office “on a fellowship,” her business card said “Congressional Fellow,” and Cheroutes later confirmed the documents were authentic. If the member of Congress whose office she worked in said she was a fellow, and her supervisor later said the same, who are outside commentators to insist otherwise?
I have criticized Takaichi on plenty of issues. There is also a separate question about whether the Cabinet public relations official actually contacted Cheroutes in June, and that deserves scrutiny. But turning “technically” into an admission that Takaichi’s fellowship was fake is not a serious reading of the evidence.
Even after the release of the latest e-mail, I have seen some Japanese users who are badly misinterpreting the English used by Cheroutes. For example, I've seen a post making a big deal out of how he confirmed that Takaichi was "a Fellow" instead of writing "Congressional Fellow."
It is always remarkable to see non-native speakers insist on a strained reading of an ordinary English expression while disregarding how native speakers actually use it.