Shinzo Abe tumbles into bunker while golfing with Donald Trump

Numerous things have gone tumbling during Trump's whistlestop tour of East Asia, from China's trade deficit with the US, to the fish food that Trump was supposed to feed “gently” to a pond of precious koi carp.

However, one nose-dive that went unnoticed, by the US President at least, came courtesy of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who fell head over heels into a sand bunker while golfing yesterday.

Having just successfully played a shot out of the bunker, Abe climbed to the edge of the sand trap, only for his foot to slip, sending him rolling backwards into the sand.

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Trump, about 20m away at the time, didn't appear to notice his counterpart's dramatic tumble, but aerial footage later revealed Abe's gaffe.

The Japanese Prime Minister was reportedly unharmed in the incident, but News.com.au reports that many in Japan have mocked Abe's fall as symbolic of the power dynamic between the two leaders.

“Abe was ignored when he fell over backwards. He served Trump a lot of delicious food but in return all he got was being forced to promise to buy more weapons,” one user wrote on Twitter.

“Furthermore, Mr Trump ignored all of Mr Abe’s tweets. Mr Trump doesn’t even follow Abe on Twitter. And you call this best friend LOL?”