<figure id="attachment_470584" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-470584" style="width: 1000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="155d1d7d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/06/50a0c8477d750ccf1ea9964471c36536.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-470584" class="wp-caption-text">Prime Minister Takaichi is being pursued by opposition parties on the issue of negativity. &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
<h2> I don&#8217;t want to become a paying member</h2>
 Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (65) is suddenly in the news.
 The Weekly Bunshun is intensively reporting on the &#8220;negative-campaign video scandal. It is reported that Takaichi&#8217;s camp made videos slandering other candidates in last year&#8217;s LDP presidential and other elections.
 The person who played a central role was Ken Matsui, the representative of &#8220;neu,&#8221; who was reportedly responsible for the development of the &#8220;Sanae Token&#8221; issue. In an interview with Bunshun and other media, he revealed the behind-the-scenes details of the negative campaign.
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 At first, Prime Minister Takaichi said he had no idea who Matsui was.
 &#8220;I don&#8217;t know him. I have never met him.
 I have never met him. However, he was gradually forced into a difficult position when Bunshun published ZOOM audio data as evidence of communication between his secretary A and Mr. Matsui.
 When asked by the Budget Committee of the upper house of the Diet on June 4 to confirm the facts of the audio data, the prime minister replied
 I don&#8217;t want to become a paying member of Bunshun.
 and only on June 5 did he finally confirm the audio data. As a result
 He claimed, &#8220;The secretary&#8217;s voice was much higher than when she was talking to me, and she was speaking so clearly that I felt uncomfortable.
 He claimed, &#8220;I felt uncomfortable.
 When asked if he would not protest to Bunshun if that was the case, he replied
 I am working on national management with the nation of Japan on my shoulders. I don&#8217;t have time to spend on such things.
 He brushed off the question as &#8220;I don&#8217;t have time for such things. The opposition parties are not satisfied with Takaichi&#8217;s answer and are demanding that his secretary be invited as a witness.
 Takaichi has never been good at admitting wrongdoing and apologizing. In 2011, when he was Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, an internal document on political impartiality was leaked, but she vehemently opposed it, saying it was a &#8216;fabrication. She even said she would risk her life as a Diet member, but in the end, the MIC acknowledged that the document was &#8220;genuine. She still got away with it, so she may think she can get away with it this time, too.
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 If she admits to the allegations, it could lead to a debate over the Public Offices Election Law, which prohibits the publication of false information for the purpose of losing an election. A source in the ruling party said
 &#8220;When the prime minister said at the Upper House Budget Committee meeting that he was &#8216;taking on the responsibility of managing the nation with the nation on his shoulders,&#8217; LDP lawmakers shouted, &#8216;Yes! &#8216; they raised their voices and applauded. It was a sign of their determination to protect the prime minister.
 The LDP members applauded and cheered, saying, &#8220;Yes!
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" How the major media came to report the story: ......"></div>
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<h2>The Prime Minister&#8217;s qualifications are being questioned.</h2>
 However, the situation is getting worse by the day. At first, the national newspapers and TV stations, including NHK, were quiet about the allegations, but now they are &#8220;after it&#8221; and chasing after new information.
 On June 7, Kyodo News reported that the Koichi campaign was directly involved in making a &#8220;negative video&#8221; of Koizumi Shinjiro, 45, the defense minister in last year&#8217;s LDP presidential election.
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 The aforementioned Mr. Matsui was interviewed and told by Mr. Koichi&#8217;s secretary that he was involved in the creation of a &#8220;negative video&#8221; of Koizumi.
 Koizumi&#8217;s secretary asked him what he could do to turn the tables on Koizumi.
 He suggested &#8220;negative communication. He testified that he created and posted a video in which he criticized Koizumi as a &#8220;puppet. The prime minister&#8217;s office has denied any involvement and stressed that it has no intention of reopening the investigation.
 The major media did not expect Bunshun to launch such a big campaign,&#8221; he said in an interview with this website.
 A reporter from a TV news bureau told this website, &#8220;I didn&#8217;t think the major media would launch such a big campaign.
 The disclosure of the audio data of Mr. A, the secretary, was a big factor. This was a major factor. Other media outlets, which had been keeping a low profile, suddenly turned their attention to the pursuit of Takaichi. Ken Matsui, a key figure in the story, is also responsible for the development of SanaeToken. Once the deep structure of &#8230;&#8230; tokens in return for his efforts in the negative video came into view, the major media could no longer ignore it. It seems that some of the companies have been prodded by reporters in the field to do it.
 Matsui, who is in the middle of the whirlwind, says that he is not currently in Japan because of the risks involved. He responds to media requests for interviews online, and the more the Koichi camp denies it, the more new information flows out.
 The more the Koichi campaign denies it, the more new information is popping up. &#8220;The whole issue is that the prime minister of the day was spreading a &#8216;fake video&#8217; of his opponent, and if true, it goes to the very foundation of democracy,&#8221; said Matsui. Even if there is nothing illegal about it, it is certain that the prime minister&#8217;s qualifications will be questioned from an ethical standpoint. Nevertheless, even if he is cornered by the opposition, he may be able to get away with it if he places the blame on his secretary A and says that the secretary was lying.
 (A reporter covering politics for a national newspaper) &#8220;The Cabinet&#8217;s approval rating, which had been unrivaled up to now, is on a downward trend. In a nationwide poll conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun on May 23 and 24, the approval rating among 18- to 29-year-olds was 45%, down 6 points from the previous month and below 50% for the first time.
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 Even so, Prime Minister Takaichi&#8217;s side has maintained a certain distance from the press, maintaining the stance that this is a &#8220;transitory phenomenon&#8221; and a &#8220;manipulation of information. During the question-and-answer session on the draft supplementary budget for FY26, the PM&#8217;s side 
&#8216;The entire company should ask one question,&#8217; and the secretariat once asked several questions collectively.
 Prime Minister Takaichi has been more active on social networking sites than in dialogue with the mass media. He only needs to send out what is good for him. As a news organization, he is trying to show his pride by handling the allegations of a series of negative videos.
 Will Prime Minister Takaichi&#8217;s &#8220;ignorance&#8221; really prevail?

 Takeshi Kinugawa

 Prime Minister Takaichi brought the LDP an overwhelming victory in the general election. However, behind the scenes, he is being pursued for allegedly posting "negative-campaign videos" against other parties. The pursuit, which began with Bunshun, has now been followed by the major media outlets. ......

The &#8220;big media&#8221; are joining in one after another to report on the &#8220;negative campaign video allegations&#8221; by the Koichi campaign.

The “big media” are joining in one after another to report on the “negative campaign video allegations” by the Koichi campaign.

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