New Delhi: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s official residence is also her workplace, she has revealed.
“Work conducted at the official residence, such as meetings held there, is not reported as part of the prime minister’s daily schedule, but from my perspective it’s also a workplace,” wrote Takaichi on X.
Takaichi, 65, has defended spending long hours working from her official residence and calling it a workplace. She moved into the official residence Kotei in December last year. The residence, built in 1929, is adjacent to the prime minister’s office in Tokyo.
“The residence is located next to the official residence, so from the perspective of crisis management, I moved from the familiar members’ dormitory to the prime minister’s residence,” she wrote.
Takaichi said this is to ensure that she can obtain the necessary information and make prompt judgements and responses, even at odd hours of the day or during holidays.
The last part of her post reveals the reason behind Takaichi’s long post.
“When I spend holidays at the residence, the ‘prime minister’s schedule’ is recorded as ‘Spent the entire day at the residence,’ but I am carrying out the necessary official duties there as well,” Takaichi wrote.
It seems that the Japan PM wants to reassure her citizens that even if her schedule shows her as spending the day home, she is hard at work.
A space for official duties
Takaichi said the prime minister’s residence, known as the prime minister’s home, also has a solid function as a space for meetings and official duties. She said the residence is equipped with large and small conference rooms and communication facilities.
“Where I can hold remote meetings with overseas dignitaries, record messages for official events and meet with my prime ministerial secretaries,” she wrote.
Takaichi said she brings home almost all the materials she can read at the residence.
“I either meet in the conference rooms within the residence or handle them remotely, creating an environment no different from when I’m working at the official residence,” she said.
She added that on holidays or during early mornings and nights on weekdays, she avoids leaving the residence unless it is absolutely necessary.
“This is because my outings would require a large number of Special Police (SP) personnel and impose a significant burden on them,” she said.
From the perspective of “work-style reform” for official residence staff and SP, Takaichi said she will continue to make maximum use of the residence’s functions as she works going forward.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)