Sanae Takaichi smiles after being re-elected prime minister by the House of Representatives. Photo / The Yomiuri Shimbun via The Washington Post
Fresh off a historic election victory, Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is flexing her increased influence and attempting to strengthen the role of the prime minister’s office in running the Government.
Takaichi plans to establish herself as the dominant force in the Liberal Democratic Party and follow a governance style similar to that of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who served longer as Japan’s leader than any other PM.
After being re-elected as prime minister in the House of Representatives and House of Councillors last Wednesday local time, Takaichi formed her second Cabinet.
She summoned Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa to the prime minister’s office and handed him his new list of instructions.
“I’ve added some more items to your previous instructions,” she said. “Please read them carefully and work hard.”
Growth Strategy Minister Minoru Kiuchi later told reporters: “I’ll read [my instructions] until I memorise them and do my best to keep them in mind”.
Looking to ensure policy continuity, Takaichi reappointed every minister from her first Cabinet and left their responsibilities unchanged.
Even so, Takaichi - who is fond of written communication - spent the previous weekend holed up at the office compiling written instructions for her ministers.
When Takaichi launched her first Cabinet in October, her instructions to Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara centred on five key issues, including improving the nation’s ability to collect and analyse intelligence from Japan and abroad.
Kihara’s latest instructions include new tasks, such as reviewing three key security-related documents in co-operation with other ministers and strengthening the Government’s messaging overseas on territorial issues, North Korea’s past abduction of Japanese nationals and issues of historical perception.
Takaichi has reportedly told her close aides that she will push her ministers to “work harder”.
Takaichi had portrayed the lower house election as a “vote of confidence” in herself.
The LDP wound up holding two-thirds of the chamber’s seats, and now she plans to parlay her mandate into a bigger role for the prime minister’s office in running the Government.
In doing so, she is taking cues from Abe and the governing methods he used as prime minister.
Abe made then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga the sole mediator between the government and the ruling parties.
Similarly, Takaichi is placing her right-hand man Kihara in charge of co-ordinating on important policies and with senior LDP members.
Takaichi’s heavy reliance on people from the Economy Ministry also has shades of the Abe administration.
When Abe was in office, close aides including Takaya Imai, a special adviser to the prime minister, and Kozo Saiki, an executive secretary, spearheaded policy co-ordination and were even dubbed the “bureaucrats in the prime minister’s office”.
Former Vice-Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yuji Iida, who is the Prime Minister’s executive secretary for political affairs, has gained Takaichi’s trust and is growing increasingly influential.
Saiki assumed the post of Cabinet public relations secretary in January and, along with Imai, who is a special adviser to the Cabinet, has been a sounding board for Takaichi on running the Administration and messaging around government policy.
Given Takaichi’s commitment to an “expansionary fiscal policy”, the clout of the Finance Ministry - which prioritises fiscal discipline - has diminished in the Administration.
Initially, the ministry resisted the idea of lowering the consumption tax on food, but it has begun to come around after seeing Takaichi’s resolve on the issue.
Even before the election, Takaichi was known for having few meetings with other lawmakers. The LDP’s crushing victory has inflated her confidence, which could reinforce this habit.
“Some in the party will find it harder to reach her, and her top-down approach could become even more pronounced,” said one LDP lawmaker, sharing a widely held view in the party.
Even among party executives, some are bracing for a situation in which the Government has the upper hand over the party.
A two-thirds majority in the lower house is needed to start deliberations on amending the Constitution in the chamber.
With the LDP over that threshold, Takaichi is eager to revise the nation’s supreme law, one of Abe’s long-held ambitions.
Eisuke Mori, who previously chaired the lower house Commission on the Constitution and is from the LDP’s Aso faction, has been selected as lower house speaker. Keiji Furuya, chair of the LDP Election Strategy Committee and a close associate of Takaichi, is set to head the commission.
“I’ve paved the way for revising the Constitution,” Takaichi has told her aides.
Going forward, Takaichi plans to select the constitutional amendments the party will prioritise, and her influence will increasingly shape any discussions on revising the top law.
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