Controversy in Japan over Prime Minister Takaichi’s excessive work zeal: ‘Between 0 and 3 hours of sleep a day’
The head of government boasts on social media about her devotion to work and her lack of domestic skills. Internet users say it is a smokescreen to mask her low popularity ratings
A message posted this week on the social network X by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, in which she boasts of sleeping “between 0 and 3 hours” a night, has sparked intense controversy in Japan. The debate raises the question as to whether such excessive work zeal and extreme devotion to wakefulness sets a bad example for the public. For some, however, it is more of a smokescreen to mask Takaichi’s low popularity ratings and, also, the scandal of an alleged smear campaign against her internal rivals in the race for the party presidency.
“Since July began, I have stayed shut in the official residence on weekends, painstakingly going over mountains of documents from first thing in the morning until late at night,” begins the long text uploaded July 20 to the prime minister’s account on X, which is followed by 2.9 million users.
The first woman to lead Japan’s executive branch explains how her little free time in the afternoons is spent doing laundry, cleaning the bathroom, washing dishes, mending the hem of her skirts and reinforcing loose buttons on her jackets. She says she uses the early hours of the morning to catch up on stacks of official documents. Throughout the list, Takaichi intersperses enthusiastic lines about her government policies with self-criticism about her poor ironing skills.
The post has received 55,000 likes and, by Thursday, had accumulated roughly 14,000 comments. One comes from a woman who uses a wheelchair and describes her own exhausting routine as a company employee.
The woman paraphrases one of Takaichi’s famous slogans (“Work, work, work, work…”) and adds that, despite having no secretaries or drivers, she quietly pays the taxes that politicians “decide as they please.” She concludes: “When I see posts like hers I can’t help but think: Isn’t that common sense?”
Another X user lashes out at the prime minister for boasting about “working without sleeping” and calls her account of long days “pathetic.” “Is she trying to make us forget the Imperial Household Law?” the user asks, referring to the recent reform that leaves women excluded from the line of succession to the Japanese throne despite popular support for Princess Aiko, the only child of the current monarchs.
Many users advise Takaichi to hire someone to help with household chores and to focus on delivering better results as a leader. “You are approving draft laws that have nothing to do with the lives of citizens suffering from a weak yen and rising prices,” one writes.
A cartoon of the prime minister sweating while ironing her clothes, published on another account, alludes to Takaichi’s dwindling popularity. “Since my approval ratings are plunging, I wash the dishes and iron and thereby win people’s sympathy,” the caption accompanying the drawing sarcastically reads.
Takaichi’s cabinet, which after her landslide victory in February’s legislative elections hovered at around 70% approval, has registered continuous monthly declines and now stands at 41%, according to a Mainichi Shimbun survey carried out between July 19 and July 20.
The most cutting and awkward comment refers to the scandal surrounding Takeshi Kinoshita, Takaichi’s aide. According to an investigative report, the prime minister’s office used AI-generated videos to discredit rivals in the 2025 contest for the presidency of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
“Is this a justification to evade parliament and avoid accountability? If so, why doesn’t your secretary Kinoshita appear to provide the corresponding explanations?” the user asks.
Takaichi, known for her reluctance to make unscripted parliamentary appearances, has responded evasively to these criticisms and on Wednesday submitted a document signed by her aide denying he created or distributed videos defaming other candidates. Among the rivals affected are Shinjiro Koizumi, the current defense minister, and Yoshimasa Hayashi, the minister of internal affairs and communications.
Opposition parties have rejected the document and again demanded the aide’s appearance. The Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA) argues that the actions of a prime minister’s secretary paid with public funds must be clarified in parliament.
The weekly magazine that has pushed the investigation, Shukan Bunshun, belongs to an influential publishing group famous for the strong legal team that backs its investigations — often sensationalist — into figures in Japan’s political, economic, and entertainment worlds.
Late on Thursday, an X user resorted to linguistic irony, noting that Japanese borrows the English word iron for the household chose, which would justify Takaichi’s declared admiration for Margaret Thatcher, the unyielding British politician nicknamed “the Iron Lady.”
Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition