TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Monday that repeatedly responding to questioning over a smear campaign scandal involving her election team was cutting into her time for prime ministerial duties, a response that drew widespread criticism.
Japan’s weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun has recently published a series of reports, citing evidence including emails and audio recordings, alleging that Takaichi’s campaign team instructed an IT firm to use artificial intelligence to create and spread defamatory videos attacking rival candidates during last year’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership race and the February general election.
During a session of the House of Representatives Budget Committee on Monday, opposition Centrist Reform Alliance lawmaker Yuichi Goto pressed Takaichi on her camp’s connection to the alleged activities.
Rather than addressing the question directly, Takaichi said that having to respond to the allegations had made it increasingly difficult to secure sufficient time for her prime ministerial duties.
The response triggered a public backlash. Shunichi Mizuoka, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters that opposition parties had been notifying the government of their questions well in advance and said it was deeply regrettable and frustrating that Takaichi had repeatedly deflected by claiming she had only seen the questions late at night.
Criticism also mounted on social media. Jiro Yamaguchi, a professor at Hosei University, called Takaichi’s attempt to shift responsibility onto others “extremely immature.”
Former Japanese foreign ministry official Magosaki Ukeru criticized her responses as “evasive and perfunctory,” noting that the scandal continued to deepen precisely because Takaichi had yet to provide a clear account of what actually happened.
Takaichi has faced repeated opposition scrutiny over the smear video reports and calls for her publicly funded first secretary, who is alleged to be a central figure in the scandal, to appear before lawmakers.
A Kyodo News poll released Sunday suggested that Takaichi’s explanations have failed to convince much of the public.
The survey found that 49.7 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with her explanation, while 38.9 percent said the matter had been sufficiently explained.