Issue:
April 2026 | Cover story 2
Takaichi is bypassing TV and newspapers to reward her media allies for their uncritical coverage
On February 1, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi cancelled her appearance in a debate organized by the public broadcaster NHK a week before the lower house elections.
“I did not avoid the programme … I had to receive treatment for pain in my right hand,” she explained more than a week later, after being elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party. Her aides had already cited medical reasons for her absence from the debate, without offering many details.
Then several people, including the government’s chief spokesman, Minoru Kihara, claimed they had been behind Takaichi’s decision to pull out of the debate. Nagatacho was rife with competing theories. Media outlets chose the explanation that best suited their agendas.
The Tokyo Shimbun and the Asahi Shimbun were highly critical, while the Sankei Shimbun unquestioningly accepted the prime minister’s explanation.
A similar pattern has been repeated on every major policy issue.
Takaichi polarizes the media in almost comical ways. The right-wing Sankei agrees with her on practically everything, while the centre-left Asahi does the exact opposite. Takaichi is a constant presence in the media, but usually in an indirect way - summaries of her responses to parliament and short press briefings where she usually takes no more than a couple of questions.
She rarely responds to journalists (she does not, for example, grant TV interviews). The only exceptions are formal press conferences, but even then, most of the questions – and answers – are prepared in advance. The international media are rarely given the opportunity to question her.
That was the case even during her recent visit to the United States. Her “Pearl Harbor” meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office ended without a single question from the foreign journalists present.
One particularly troubling trend is the highly critical tone toward Takaichi of the Nikkei Keizai Shimbun. Responding to the expansionary investment policies advocated by Takaichi and her finance minister, Satsuki Katayama, the Nikkei has urged them to avoid actions that could further jeopardise Japan’s finances. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but the Nikkei also opposes those close to the prime minister who are at odds with the position taken by the major business lobby Keidanren. They include the economist Yoichi Takahashi, who argues that the weak yen is no bad thing, and that Japan no longer has cause for concern over securing rare earth minerals since the recent discovery of huge deposits near Minamitorishima island.
Takaichi’s inner circle includes journalists and columnists who use platforms such as YouTube and polemical magazines. They dismiss newspapers and TV networks as “old media” … and they have a point. Takaichi’s popularity does not seem to depend on what the major daily newspapers or national broadcasters say about her. As the result of February’s lower house elections prove, part of her success can be attributed to her ability to bypass the mainstream media and harness the power of social media.
Understanding Takaichi’s politics means not only reading her own books, but also those of conservative essayists whose tomes frequently become bestsellers. Many are obsessed with China or, more accurately, criticizing China.
Her campaign video racked up 160 million views on YouTube, but her media engagement strategy was producing dividends long before she became prime minister. “I began a series of lectures across Japan with Sanae Takaichi in late 2023. We filled halls with over 1,000 or even 2,000 people,” says essayist Ryusho Kadota, a prominent Takaichi ally. Kadota and others, including the journalist Yoshiko Sakurai and the economist Yoichi Takahashi, have been singing Takaichi’s praises for years.
They are extremely influential on social media, with their YouTube videos attracting hundreds of thousands of views, and sometimes several million. Takaichi is a regular presence on the cover of the monthly magazines Gekkan Hanada and Will, whose articles heap praise on Takaichi and her policies.
Since Shinzo Abe’s death in 2022, Takaichi has featured prominently in these publications, often granting them interviews. She appeals to right-wing influencers because she articulates their views to the letter. They, in turn, act as her inspiration.
Karyn Nishimura is a correspondent for the French daily newspaper Libération and Radio France.
