London mayor Boris Johnson rugby tackled this 10-year-old boy during visit to Japan

 By 
Sam Haysom
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

LONDON -- When visiting other countries, it's always nice to make a good impression.

This is especially crucial for politicians, who often travel to meet other senior figures and discuss important stuff like trade and friendship agreements.

There are often lots of media hanging about, and the politician in question -- who in this case happens to be London Mayor Boris Johnson, who's been on a four-day visit to Japan to discuss stuff like trade and Japan hosting the 2019 Rugby World cup -- would normally be hoping for cheerful photos of himself standing around smiling and shaking hands with important people.

What Johnson probably wasn't hoping for was a series of photos of him flattening a 10-year-old boy during a game of street rugby.

Here's Johnson with some school children in Tokyo, about to join in with a street rugby tournament.

Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Now let's flash forward to a second-by-second replay of the tournament's key moment.

Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Luckily, Sekiguchi escaped from the tackle unscathed. But, judging from his weary expression in this last photo, we can only imagine it'll be awhile before he sets foot on the rugby field with Boris again.

Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

UPDATED 15 OCTOBER 11:40: Here's a GIF of the all-important moment...

[img src="" caption="" credit="" alt=""]

You can watch the full video here.

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