2026 POLLS: Takaichi Keeps Mum on Tax Cut, Unification Church

Tokyo, Feb. 6 (Jiji Press)–Since the campaign period for Sunday’s House of Representatives began on Jan. 27, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has shied away from the topics of a proposed consumption tax cut and her alleged ties to the controversial religious group Unification Church. Hoping to turn her silence into a focal point of the election campaign for the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, the opposition parties have ramped up their criticism. Takaichi, who is also president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, shows no signs of changing her ways as she cannot afford to give the opposition parties any more ammunition in the final stretch of the campaign period. The LDP’s policy pledges feature a plan to cut the consumption tax rate on food items to zero for two years. The prime minister “hasn’t talked about the consumption tax at all recently,” Yoshihiko Noda, co-leader of the Centrist Reform Alliance, a new party created by the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito, told reporters in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on Thursday. “We can’t provide voters with the information (to decide whom they will vote for in the election) unless we refine discussions,” he said, calling on Takaichi to have a face-off at a debate session. After Takaichi abruptly skipped a television debate program last Sunday, the two party chiefs have not had the opportunity to directly engage in a battle of words. So far, Takaichi has delivered stump speeches in 40 locations throughout the country in the election campaign period. While repeatedly vowing to make the Japanese archipelago stronger and more prosperous and to go ahead with a proactive yet responsible fiscal policy, she has refused to discuss in detail the proposed zero-rate consumption tax on food items. While mentioning the policy briefly in an internet program on Wednesday, Takaichi said, “There is a view that the inflation rate of food will remain high, and it is especially difficult for seniors, so I announced that we would accelerate consideration.” But she did not elaborate. During a speech delivered in the town of Shiroishi in Saga Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Thursday, Takaichi said, “People who want to drag me down are trying to use every possible means to do so.” The remark was likely made in response to recent reports by the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine alleging that Takaichi had concealed purchases of tickets to her fundraising parties by the Unification Church, formerly known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, in the past and that she had sent a letter giving her regards to the group. She, however, did not provide an explanation for the allegations during her speech. Media outlets predict that the LDP is leading Sunday’s election race. Many within the party and the Takaichi administration have voiced caution against gaffes and candidate camps letting their guard down. “We’re all stopping (Takaichi) from stooping to her opponents’ level,” a senior official of the prime minister’s office said. The opposition parties have grown more impatient, as Takaichi seems to be sticking to her guns. The LDP in its policy pledges only said that it would “speed up talks” on abolishing the consumption tax on food products, despite Takaichi previously voicing her “earnest desire” to realize such a move. Trying to highlight the difference with the LDP, Hiromasa Nakano, co-secretary-general of the Centrist Reform Alliance, said, “Are they only pretending that they’ll implement such a measure?” “We’re serious about realizing” a zero consumption tax rate, he said. On Thursday, Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, in the city of Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, said, “Discussions (on the consumption tax on food products) would slow down once the election ends.” He, instead, emphasized the importance of increasing residential tax deductions. Speaking to reporters in the northeastern city of Sendai, DPFP Secretary-General Kazuya Shinba said sarcastically, “It’s uncharacteristic of the prime minister to suddenly say something that can’t be achieved right away, just before the election.” The Japanese Communist Party has jumped on the topic of the Unification Church. “A series of profound suspicions has been unearthed,” Akira Koike, head of the JCP’s secretariat, said in Tokyo on Thursday, adding that the prime minister should engage in discussions before the people. Reiwa Shinsengumi co-chief Mari Kushibuchi said to reporters in the Japanese capital, “The prime minister is just running away from her problem.” “She has the responsibility to get to the bottom (of the matter),” Kushibuchi said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]