Overview
- Political funding records published on Jan. 8 show ¥64.74 million moved to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi across seven post-2005 lower house elections from the LDP Nara 2nd district branch she led.
- The funds accounted for over 80% of her campaign income in those races, raising questions about her Dec. 12 parliamentary claim that branch donations were not donations to her.
- In Doha, senior Hamas official Muhammad Nazal said the group retains the capacity to continue resistance and expressed caution about disarmament under the Gaza peace plan near the three-month mark of the ceasefire.
- Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi met Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki and pledged to work to reduce the prefecture’s burden related to the concentration of U.S. military facilities.
- Former Kushiro mayor Hiroya Ebina, who served four terms from 2008 to 2024, has died at 67.