A message posted this week on the social network X by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, in which she boasts of sleeping “between 0 and 3 hours” every day, has generated intense controversy in Japan. The debate raises the question of whether such excessive work zeal and extreme dedication to wakefulness can be a bad example for citizens. For some, however, it is more of a smokescreen to mask Takaichi’s low popularity rating and also the scandal of an alleged defamation campaign against her internal rivals in the struggle for the party presidency.
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“Since July began, on weekends I have been confined to the official residence, thoroughly reviewing mountains of documents from early morning until late at night,” begins the extensive text uploaded on July 20 to the Prime Minister’s X account, followed by 2.9 million users.
The first woman to lead the Japanese Executive explains how her limited personal time in the afternoon is spent doing laundry, cleaning the bathroom, washing dishes, mending the hem of her skirts, and reinforcing loose buttons on her jackets. And that she uses the early morning to catch up on piles of official documents. Throughout the enumeration, Takaichi intersperses enthusiastic phrases about her government policies with self-criticism about her poor ironing skills.
7月に入ってからの土日は、公邸で『骨太方針』『日本成長戦略』『地域未来戦略』に関する分厚い資料を早朝から深夜まで読み続け、2週目は与党審査で加筆修正された部分を熟読検討するなど、高市内閣が初めて骨太方針や概算要求段階から関われる令和９年度予算や本格的に取り組める中長期の成長戦略に向…
— 高市早苗 (@takaichi_sanae) July 20, 2026
The post has generated 55,000 likes and, as of Thursday, had accumulated about 14,000 comments. One of them is from a disabled woman who uses a wheelchair and describes her exhausting routine as an employee of a company.
The woman paraphrases a famous Takaichi slogan (“Work, work, work, work…”) and adds that, despite not having secretaries or drivers, she silently pays the taxes that politicians “decide at their whim.” In the end, she concludes: “When I see posts like yours, I can’t help but think: Isn’t that common sense?”
Another Twitter user rebukes the Prime Minister for boasting “of working without sleep” and calls the account of her long days “pathetic.” “Does she intend to make us forget the Imperial House Law?” he asks, referring to the recent reform of the regulations that maintain the exclusion of women from the line of succession to the Japanese throne despite popular support for Princess Aiko, the only daughter of the current monarchs.
Not a few users advise Takaichi to hire someone to help her with household chores and focus on achieving better results as a ruler. “You are approving bills that have nothing to do with the lives of citizens suffering from the weak yen and rising prices,” one of them claims.
A caricature of the Prime Minister sweating while ironing her clothes, published on another account, refers to Takaichi’s dwindling popularity. “Since my approval ratings are plummeting, I start washing dishes and ironing to gain people’s sympathy,” ironizes the text accompanying the drawing.
Takaichi’s Cabinet, which after her overwhelming victory in last February’s legislative elections was around 70% approval, has registered continuous monthly declines and now stands at 41%, according to a survey by the newspaper Mainichi Shimbun conducted between July 19 and 20.
The most incisive and uncomfortable of the comments alludes to the scandal that has affected Takeshi Kinoshita, Takaichi’s assistant. According to a journalistic investigation, the Prime Minister used AI-created videos to discredit her rivals in the 2025 elections for the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
“Is this a justification for evading Parliament and avoiding accountability? If so, why doesn’t her secretary Kinoshita appear to give the corresponding explanations?” the user asks.
Takaichi, known for her reluctance to unscripted parliamentary appearances, has responded evasively to these criticisms and on Wednesday presented a document signed by her assistant denying having created or distributed videos defaming other candidates. Among the affected rivals are Shinjiro Koizumi, current Minister of Defense, and Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Opposition parties have rejected the document and have again demanded the assistant’s appearance. The Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA) argues that the actions of a prime minister’s secretary paid with public money must be clarified in Parliament.
The weekly that spearheaded the investigation, Shukan Bunshun, belongs to an influential publishing group famous for the solid legal team that backs its often sensationalist investigations into Japanese political, economic, and entertainment figures.
Late on Thursday, a user on X resorted to linguistic irony and recalled that Japanese borrows the English word iron to say “iron,” which would justify Takaichi’s declared admiration for Margaret Thatcher, the inflexible British politician nicknamed the Iron Lady.
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