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Tag - sanae-takaichi

 
 

SANAE TAKAICHI

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions at the Upper House Budget Committee on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 6, 2026
Takaichi faces heat over defamatory campaign video scandal
A report claims that her campaign posted defamatory videos of her rivals on social media during election time. The release of audio recordings has intensified the controversy.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi answers a question during a House of Representatives budget committee session in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 5, 2026
Takaichi still highly popular despite slide in approval ratings
The lower ratings in two of three recent media polls come amid concerns over rising prices and the availability of crude oil-derived naphtha due to the Middle East conflict.
Samsung Electronics workers chant slogans during a rally ahead of a planned strike outside the company's semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on April 23.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 5, 2026
Do Japan¡¯s chip workers need a Samsung-style strike?
Even as Tokyo firms prepare to award customary summer bonuses, there will be nothing on the scale that South Korean companies are offering.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki speaks during the party's meeting on political system reform in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2026
LDP considering cutting 45 proportional representation seats in Lower House
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is said to be seeking consensus within the party on reducing Lower House seats through cuts to proportional representation seats.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at a Lower House plenary session in Tokyo on Wednesday. Takaichi has described the supplementary budget as being designed to ¡°minimize risks¡± from the increasingly uncertain situation in the Middle East.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2026
Lower House passes ?3.11 trillion extra budget to ease Mideast war impacts
The budget will create a new reserve fund to respond to developments in the conflict while aiding impacted energy users and replenishing the existing reserve fund.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is expected to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on June 14 and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome the following day ahead of the Group of Seven summit in France.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2026
Takaichi eyes wider Europe trip during G7 summit in France
The prime minister aims to make stopovers in London and Rome ahead of the June 15-17 summit in Evian, eastern France.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a party leaders' debate at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on May 20. A pledge to cut the consumption tax on food products is quickly becoming a policy headache for the prime minister.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 4, 2026
Consumption tax cut is quickly turning into a headache for Takaichi
Translating the pledge from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's administration into policy has proven more complicated than many lawmakers anticipated.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and U.S. President Donald Trump give an address aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington during a visit to the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in October.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 3, 2026
A ¡®Golden Age¡¯ for Japan-U.S. relations? Not quite.
Calls for increased defense spending are one thing; doubts about America's commitment to the security alliance are another.
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), delivers a question during a House of Representatives plenary session on May 25. Making the DPP a coalition member would make it easier for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (above left) to drive forward her legislative agenda.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 3, 2026
The LDP wants another coalition partner. Will it happen?
The Liberal Democratic Party floated the idea of inviting the Democratic Party for the People to join the ruling bloc.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (center) poses for a commemorative photo with leaders attending the Island States Ocean Summit in Tokyo on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 3, 2026
Takaichi calls for cooperation at meeting with leaders of island nations
The prime minister says daily life in Japan and other island nations are deeply dependent on the marine environment and that collaboration is indispensable.
Cabinet Public Affairs Secretary Kozo Saiki launched his official X account on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Media
Jun 3, 2026
Japan¡¯s cabinet public affairs secretary launches X account
The move is aimed at spreading more information about Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's administration.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi¡¯s Cabinet has endorsed a ?3.1 trillion extra budget to fund measures meant to cushion households from inflation tied to Middle East turbulence.
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2026
Japan unveils ?3.1 trillion extra budget to cushion Mideast impact
While the government has yet to specify the usage of that fund, it is expected to be used initially to cap costs for gasoline.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during a meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Tokyo last month.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2026
Takaichi administration considering 1% tax on food from next April
A tax cut to 1% would require less time to update cash register systems and could be implemented sooner than her campaign pledge of zero percent.
Reiko Akiike, co-chair of Boston Consulting Group Japan, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on May 26. Akiike will become vice chair of the Japan Business Federation, the country's largest business lobby, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 2, 2026
Boston Consulting Group exec urges Japan to clarify purpose of investment
Reiko Akiike, co-chair of Boston Consulting Group Japan, says she has strong expectations for investment in areas including AI, semiconductors and quantum technology.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks to reporters after holding telephone talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2026
Iran to work on Japanese ships¡¯ smooth passage through Hormuz
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian argued that U.S. maritime restrictions on Tehran remained an obstacle.
Tokyo¡¯s push for cooler office attire has sparked backlash in Japan, where conservative workplace norms still shape office culture and critics say shorts and sandals do not belong in the workplace.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 1, 2026
Tokyo wants you to wear shorts to work. Say no.
While the image of the suit-and-tie salaryman endures, in recent years summer office fashions have become much more casual.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 1, 2026
Japan taking cautious ¡ª if firm ¡ª approach to avoiding escalation with China
The absence of any direct mention of China in Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi's rebuttal against claims of a "new militarism" in Japan highlights the country's careful approach.
Capital expenditure excluding software fell 3.5% from the previous quarter in the three months through March, according to the Finance Ministry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 1, 2026
Japan¡¯s firms cut spending over Iran stress despite record profits
Capital expenditure excluding software fell 3.5% from the previous quarter in the three months through March, the Finance Ministry reported Monday.
Sakie Yokota, whose daughter Megumi was abducted in 1977 by North Korea, speaks, as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi listens at a rally in Tokyo on Saturday to seek the immediate return of all Japanese abductees by North Korea.
JAPAN / Politics
May 31, 2026
Takaichi asks North Korea for summit to solve abduction issue
After taking office last October, the Japanese prime minister has been repeatedly expressing her willingness to resolve the issue.
Kazuhiko Shigetoku, Lower House parliamentary affairs chief of the Centrist Reform Alliance (center, left), and Yoshitaka Saito, Upper House parliamentary affairs chief of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (center, right), meet in parliament on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 30, 2026
Japan ruling and opposition parties at odds over extra budget
The budget committees of both the upper and lower chambers will each spend one day deliberating the extra budget for the fiscal year that started in April.

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Community programs and tracking systems are expanding across Japan as local governments search for ways to prevent dementia-related disappearances.
He told his wife he was ¡®coming home.¡¯ Then he disappeared.

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