<figure id="attachment_457796" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-457796" style="width: 2390px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="f950d788"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/b3a644d802e27f04d397e1523df81538.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-457796" class="wp-caption-text">Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was irritated by &#8220;Bakusho Mondai&#8221; Hikaru Ota&#8217;s (right) question in an election special program.</figcaption></figure>
<h2> How do you take responsibility as a politician?</h2>
 The historic victory of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi&#8217;s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the recent lower house election is likely to cause a change in the environment surrounding the mass media.
 During the election campaign, the Weekly Bunshun (weekly magazine) reported on Prime Minister Takaichi&#8217;s alleged ties to the former Unification Church and the issue of &#8220;politics and money,&#8221; but the TV stations all ignored the report. Even on the day of the election, no questions related to the election were asked, as if by arrangement.
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 The election specials this time were generally very quiet. In the past, there were times when they argued with each other. To be honest, it wasn&#8217;t enough for those of us watching.
 A TV station official said, &#8220;To be honest, it wasn&#8217;t enough for the viewers.
 The most significant change in the color of Prime Minister Takaichi&#8217;s face occurred during a special election program on TBS, when he had an argument with Hikaru Ota (60) of the comedy duo &#8220;Bakusho Mondai&#8221;.
 Ota was referring to the prime minister&#8217;s pledge of &#8220;zero consumption tax on foodstuffs for two years,&#8221; and Takaichi replied, &#8220;If I can&#8217;t do it, I&#8217;ll have to go to the Diet.
 How will Prime Minister Takaichi take responsibility if he fails to fulfill his pledge?
 When Ota interrupted, &#8220;How will Prime Minister Takaichi take responsibility if he fails to fulfill his pledge?
 If you can&#8217;t do it? 　No, because we made it a pledge. We will do our best. Please don&#8217;t talk gloomily about what will happen if we can&#8217;t do it.
 Ota was not to be outdone. Ota, not to be outdone, responded, &#8220;That&#8217;s how you take responsibility.
 This is how to take responsibility. How do you take responsibility as a politician? I beg your pardon, but I would like to ask you a question about whether you are prepared to take responsibility as a politician.
 When he persisted, his expression turned grim.
 You are so mean, aren&#8217;t you?　Please don&#8217;t assume from the start that I can&#8217;t do something!
 Please don&#8217;t assume from the beginning that I can&#8217;t do it,&#8221; he spat in his Kansai dialect. A reporter covering politics for a national newspaper saw the exchange.
 A reporter covering politics for a national newspaper who saw the exchange pointed out, &#8220;I&#8217;m sure this kind of exchange will be very chilling from now on.&#8221;
 A reporter covering politics for a national newspaper who witnessed the exchange noted, &#8220;From now on, such exchanges will be chilling. Rather than Prime Minister Takaichi, it is expected that the surrounding Diet members will be the first to file complaints against the program, eager to take credit for it.
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 When the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was prime minister, we sometimes received inquiries from LDP sources, asking if the coverage was biased,&#8221; he said. It is the same thing. The people around the prime minister, rather than the prime minister himself, will take care of the matter ahead of time and report back to him later with a smug look on their faces, saying, &#8216;I told you. It could lead to his own promotion.
 The likely targets are former TV Asahi employee Toru Tamagawa, who has long been critical of the LDP, and &#8220;News Station&#8221; anchor Kensuke Ogoshi.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Prime Minister Takaichi&#39;s &quot;one word&quot; that shook the TV industry"></div>
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<figure id="attachment_457802" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-457802" style="width: 2816px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="dff10949"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/99f06fe2e4430c6271b5c20de1b0cb99.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-457802" class="wp-caption-text">Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi won the general election by turning it into an &#8220;endorsement&#8221; election for herself.</figcaption></figure>
<h2> The &#8220;Stop the Wave&#8221; comment of 10 years ago that shook the TV industry</h2>
 The era in which journalism is no longer prioritized as it used to be. The stations don&#8217;t unite in campaigning against it. It might take courage to make a big deal about the scandal of the Liberal Democratic Party after they won the election so badly. At the very least, the station&#8217;s upper management is reluctant to do so.
 Prime Minister Takaichi himself has a harsh attitude toward the media.
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 At a February 8, 2004 meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives under the Abe administration, Prime Minister Takaichi, then Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, was asked a question by an opposition party lawmaker.
 If a broadcasting station repeatedly broadcasts programs that lack political impartiality, and there is no improvement even after administrative guidance, we cannot promise that we will not take any action.
 He also mentioned the possibility that the government might order the broadcaster to suspend its broadcasting. The TV stations at the time were greatly shocked by this &#8220;suspension of broadcasting&#8221; statement.
 The issue resurfaced in 2011, when Takaichi was Minister of Economy and Security. Opposition party lawmakers released an internal document that showed an exchange between the Prime Minister&#8217;s Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) during the Abe administration regarding the interpretation of the Broadcasting Law. Included in the documents were records of reports to then Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Takaichi. However, when questioned in the Diet about the authenticity of the documents, Takaichi said, &#8220;The documents are completely fabricated.
 A completely fabricated document.
 They are a kind of &#8220;fake documents.
 He denied that the documents were fabricated. Later, the MIC acknowledged that the documents were legitimate administrative documents, but Takaichi has refused to correct or retract his statement.
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 He was the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications at the time, but now he is the Prime Minister. Not only the commercial key stations, but NHK is also trembling with fear. They are afraid that the entire TV industry will shrink because of the trauma of the suspension.
 The aftermath of Koichi&#8217;s victory continues to linger. How will society be transformed in the future?

 Takeshi Kinugawa (Takaichi), Afro (Ota)

 Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was annoyed by a question from Hikaru Ota of "Bakusho Mondai" in a special election program. Such an exchange is making the TV industry tense. Behind the scenes, there is the trauma caused by Takaichi's comment from 10 years ago. ......

Prime Minister Takaichi is annoyed with Bakusho Ota, and other stations cannot laugh at the “trauma of 10 years ago” in the TV industry.

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