Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi marked her first year in office on Wednesday by saying that "challenges of the Takaichi cabinet's second year begin today," Jiji Press reported, as she highlighted the need to further strengthen measures to tackle global inflation.

At a briefing at the prime minister's office, Takaichi cited the significance of a bill to cut the consumption tax rate for food, currently being debated in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Japan's parliament, Qazinform reported, relaying Jiji. "I've continued working hard with the belief that steadily implementing our pledges for the Lower House election is my mission," Takaichi said.

Takaichi, who took office as Japan's first female prime minister on October 21, 2025, led her Liberal Democratic Party into a new ruling coalition with the Japan Innovation Party while ending the LDP's long partnership with Komeito, and strengthened her position by leading the LDP to a landslide victory in the Lower House election in February this year, Qazinform reported.

Japanese media marked the anniversary more critically. Xinhua reported that a Tokyo Shimbun editorial said Takaichi's pledge to make Japan "strong and prosperous" had yet to translate into tangible progress on rising prices, questioned her diplomacy, and voiced concern over her military buildup agenda, including deploying domestically developed long-range missiles and lifting restrictions on exports of lethal weapons. The Japan Times reported that her public support remained largely intact in major opinion polls even after a scandal forced her administration to see its first minister resign a week earlier.