TOKYO - Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has given fewer responses during key parliamentary committee deliberations than her four immediate predecessors, according to an analysis by Kyodo News, lending support to opposition parties' criticism of her limited engagement in Diet debates.
The findings, based on records available through the National Diet Library and the parliament's proceedings databases, showed how many responses the five Japanese leaders had made to the two parliamentary houses' budget committees per regular Diet session.
A comparison of the five since Shinzo Abe became prime minister for the second time in December 2012 showed 1,455 responses for him, 1,309 for Yoshihide Suga, 1,800 for Fumio Kishida, 1,760 for Shigeru Ishiba and 1,175 for Takaichi.
For Abe and Kishida, who remained in office for multiple ordinary Diet sessions, the analysis calculated the average number of responses per session. A regular session generally lasts 150 days.
As for Takaichi, since she dissolved the House of Representatives at the start of the year's ordinary session in January for a snap general election on Feb. 8, data from the 158-day extraordinary session held from mid-February through late July, which effectively served as this year's regular session, was used.
By individual parliamentary session, Abe, Takaichi's political mentor, recorded the fewest responses with 929 in the 2019 session, followed by Takaichi during this year's extraordinary session.
On the other hand, Takaichi far outpaced the other four in the number of social media posts during their first year in office. An analysis using social media monitoring tools such as Social Insight showed she made a total of 3,937 posts on X, Instagram and YouTube, followed by Ishiba with 2,940 and Kishida with 2,834.
Takaichi has been highly active on social media since taking office in October last year. Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers have criticized Takaichi over her reluctance to engage in parliamentary discussions.
Among the issues on which opposition lawmakers questioned Takaichi in parliament were media reports alleging her camp's involvement in spreading online videos smearing her political rivals and opposition parties.
The budget committees, which the prime minister and key ministers attend, are regarded by opposition parties as a crucial forum for directly scrutinizing them, as lawmakers can question the government on virtually any issue, including scandals, beyond budgetary matters.
