Takeya: Ensuring “money and politics” issue remains front and center

February 21 , 2026

On February 20, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi gave the new ruling coalition’s first administrative policy speech, speaking mostly on her intent to strengthen the economic and military capabilities of Japan. But she virtually avoided any mention of the stain of those within the ranks of her own party found to have accepted graft but were reelected nevertheless in the House of Representatives election earlier this month. Even more egregious, she offered no solution to prevent future violations of the law regulating political contributions.

After Takaichi’s speech, Takeya met with reporters to offer her impressions. Foremost was that the prime minister apparently felt that the funding law’s violators was a bygone issue in the aftermath of her Liberal Democratic Party landslide victory in the Lower House race. In response, Takeya reaffirmed Komeito’s position that political reforms were essential in reversing voter apathy and restoring public trust in parliamentary democracy. She reiterated her party’s call to place stricter controls on corporate and organizational donations to individual legislators and to establish an impartial third-party agency to oversee the flow of money—both donated and state funded—with which they are provided.

Takeya also said that while she supported Takaichi’s initiatives to bolster the economy and enhance national resilience, she felt that the prime minister was overlooking the everyday needs of ordinary citizens and offering little to inspire them with hope for the future. Any plan to reduce the number of parliamentary seats, Takeya added, must go hand in hand with reforms to the electoral system itself. Paring seats won through proportional representation blocs alone would curtail democratic diversity, she concluded.

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