<figure id="attachment_459216" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-459216" style="width: 1872px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="66e0ab3e"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/0aa944ce6879fd8c4c9b0227f8417437.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-459216" class="wp-caption-text">Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has been the talk of the town since the start of the Diet session.</figcaption></figure>
<h2> A &#8220;common occurrence&#8221; in Nagata-cho</h2>
 Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (64) of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), who won a landslide victory in the lower house election, is under intense scrutiny.
 First, on February 24, Bunshun Online reported that Prime Minister Takaichi had distributed catalog gifts as a celebration of her election. This is reminiscent of the criticism that former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (69) received last year when he gave gift certificates to a new member of the Diet.
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 Prime Minister Takaichi, in his own X,
 After the general election of the House of Representatives, I decided to give a gift catalogue to all members of the LDP House of Representatives as a token of my appreciation for their election through a very tough election. We decided to give them catalog gifts in order to allow them to choose items that are useful for their political activities, such as items that can be used for office receptions, meetings, and daily work.
 While acknowledging the facts, he added, &#8220;Of course, I am not responsible for this expenditure,
 Of course, we will not use any political party subsidy for this expenditure.
 He emphasized that there was &#8220;no problem.
 Political commentator Harumi Arima believes that the situation will calm down in three days.
 Harumi Arima, a political commentator, also believes that the situation will settle down in three days. Some may send it back, but most will accept it. The opposition parties are not going to be able to force Prime Minister Takaichi to resign, and since orchids costing more than 30,000 yen are given in Nagatacho, it seems to be a &#8220;common occurrence. However, the public now has the impression that &#8220;Mr. Takaichi does it, too. Isn&#8217;t that about the extent of the damage?
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 Junya Ogawa, 54, president of the Chudo Reform Coalition, said in X: &#8220;It might be said, &#8216;Prime Minister Takaichi, you do it, too? This is a new situation in which accountability, including financial resources, will be strictly demanded,&#8221; he declared.
 The next meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives is likely to be the scene of the debate, but the committee is becoming a &#8220;skeleton,&#8221; so there is little hope for it.
 Before the election, the Budget Committee was chaired by a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), but after the lower house election, it was chaired by Tetsushi Sakamoto, 75, a member of the LDP. The ruling party accounts for more than three-fourths of the committee members. It is highly likely that the committee will be ruled to be &#8220;pro-Takaichi&#8221; by shortening the time for questions, etc., and that the prime minister will probably be able to ignore the catalog gift issue.
 In fact, Ogawa himself has said that it is &#8220;not his intention&#8221; to pursue the issue of catalog gifts at the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives and other meetings, and he is somewhat weak-minded.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Prime Minister Takaichi&#39;s &quot;attitude&quot; toward the Takeshima issue"></div>
<h2>Calls for a Visit to the Oki Islands</h2>
 There are still those who are disappointed with Prime Minister Takaichi&#8217;s &#8220;change of course.
 February 22 was &#8220;Takeshima Day,&#8221; a day to call for the early return of Takeshima (Oki Islands, Shimane Prefecture), which has been illegally occupied by South Korea. A commemorative ceremony was held in Matsue City on the same day, but neither Prime Minister Takaichi nor any of his cabinet members were present.
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 Prime Minister Takaichi had insisted in his LDP presidential campaign last year that &#8220;cabinet ministers should attend&#8221; the Takeshima commemorative ceremony, but only Naoki Furukawa, Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office, was dispatched from the government. From the LDP, the three party leaders, Haruko Arimura, 55, chairperson of the General Affairs Committee, attended the ceremony.
 At the meeting, Mr. Daisuke Abe, chairman of the Oki Islands Town Council in Shimane Prefecture, said,
 Mr. Daisuke Abe, chairman of the Oki Town Council of Shimane Prefecture, said, &#8220;The people of Shimane Prefecture were hopeful that progress might finally be made when Prime Minister Takaichi said, &#8216;Cabinet ministers should attend the meeting.
 He then added, &#8220;I am more disappointed because we had high expectations,
 The fact that we had high hopes for the meeting makes it all the more disappointing. Prime Minister Koichi should visit the Oki Islands himself and see the current situation.
 The audience also responded with their own comments. The audience also responded,
 &#8220;What he said and did was not consistent with what he said and did.
 &#8220;Bring the prime minister!
 &#8220;I thought the minister was coming.
 and &#8220;I thought the minister was coming.
 Interviews with people around Prime Minister Takaichi revealed that the measure was taken out of consideration for the good relations between Japan and South Korea, but some of his more conservative supporters were heard to say, &#8220;Frankly, I am disappointed,&#8221; and&#8220;Is he turning his back on the territorial issue of Takeshima?
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 Prime Minister Takaichi, in his &#8220;invincible&#8221; state, is unlikely to play the dissolution card for some time. The people who elected Takaichi&#8217;s own people,
 &#8220;Huh?　It wasn&#8217;t supposed to be like this. &#8230;&#8230;
 I hope the people who elected Takaichi will not say, &#8220;This is not how it&#8217;s supposed to be!

 Takeshi Kinugawa

 In the recent general election, Takaichi and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won a landslide victory with 316 seats in the Diet. The "Takaichi Boom" has been gaining popularity among the public, but how much will the catalog gift scandal affect his popularity? ......

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi: &#8220;This is not how it&#8217;s supposed to be. The &#8220;This is not how it&#8217;s supposed to be&#8230;&#8221; Catalogue gift issue &#038; &#8220;No dispatch of cabinet ministers&#8221; to the Takeshima ceremony.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi: “This is not how it’s supposed to be. The “This is not how it’s supposed to be…” Catalogue gift issue & “No dispatch of cabinet ministers” to the Takeshima ceremony.

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