Overview
- Japanese media report that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to dissolve the lower house on Jan. 23, positioning Feb. 8 as the likely election date.
- NHK says Takaichi is coordinating a meeting with senior party representatives to discuss her election plan.
- TV Asahi reports a Wednesday evening meeting is slated with Liberal Democratic Party officials and members of the junior partner Japan Innovation Party.
- Government spokesman Minoru Kihara declined to comment on the reports and said the decision belongs to the prime minister.
- Takaichi, Japan’s first female premier and the fifth leader in five years, enjoys about 70% cabinet approval after converting an initial minority into a narrow lower-house majority.