Overview
- Delivering her first policy speech, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi moved Japan’s defense‑spending goal to 2% of GDP within the current fiscal year and ordered an early review of core security documents by end‑2026.
- Takaichi ended the long LDP–Komeito partnership and formed a new alignment with the Japan Innovation Party, but the government lacks safe majorities and will need opposition votes to pass a supplementary budget and higher defense outlays.
- She said she will seek to elevate the alliance during Trump’s Oct. 27–29 visit, with expectations of pressure for more spending and U.S. arms purchases, which some reports say Tokyo may answer with a package of procurement and investment proposals.
- The economic agenda centers on easing living costs through aggressive fiscal measures, including scrapping the provisional gasoline tax and lifting the nontaxable income threshold to ¥1.6 million, as September CPI rose to 2.9%.
- Takaichi framed China, North Korea and Russia as security concerns while calling China an important neighbor, and pledged deeper coordination with India and other partners to advance a free and open Indo‑Pacific.