The Tamesis
February 23, 2026
Tokyo – In her policy address on Friday, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae laid out her plans to push for bold policy shifts based on the historic mandate she won in recent lower house elections.
She emphasized that she would reshape economic, diplomatic, security and constitutional revision policies in her own style, steadily realize the campaign promises of the Liberal Democratic Party led by her as party president, and fulfill the coalition agreement signed with the Japan Innovation Party.
At the beginning of his speech, Gao Yi said that the LDP’s overwhelming victory in the election showed that they were “strongly encouraged by the people, who urged us to use all possible means to implement important policy changes.”
She said she would promote “responsible and proactive public finances” in line with her mandate, claiming “we should not hesitate to make necessary fiscal expenditures”.
She also called for increased investment in 17 strategic areas. In her approximately 50-minute speech, the word “investment” was repeated 24 times.
At the end of her speech, she focused on constitutional changes. She described the constitution as an articulation of “an ideal version of the country we want to build” and expressed hope that Congress would quickly propose a constitutional amendment.
The comments showed a more confident approach to constitutional changes given that her party single-handedly secured a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, which is required for Congress to propose amendments.
On the other hand, lingering concerns within the ruling group are that a senior Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker said that if the prime minister steers the parliamentary process very forcefully, such as passing the fiscal year 2026 budget this fiscal year, the government may be seen as “disrespecting parliament, which may alienate the public.”
In his speech, the Prime Minister simply called on Parliament to “quickly consider” the budget.
As for the bill to cut the food excise tax rate to zero for two years, Takahiro is considering submitting it to a special congressional session in the fall. But in her speech, she said only that she aimed to introduce the bill as soon as possible, without specifying any specific timeline.
She was heavily heckled by the opposition when she spoke in the upper house, where the ruling coalition still holds a minority.
In her speech, Takaichi also said she would guide the congressional process “by listening to a variety of voices and acting with humility.”
A senior administration official warned: “A government that relies on high popularity will quickly lose momentum if there are signs of arrogance.”
