Takaichi Starts Year-End Holidays, Plans Move to PM Official Residence; Duties Scheduled Despite Holidays

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:35 JST, December 28, 2025

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi began her New Year holidays on Saturday and is expected to remain on break until Jan. 4.

Takaichi will spend time in Tokyo while planning a move to the prime minister’s official residence at the end of the year. Currently, she resides at the House of Representatives members’ dormitory in Akasaka.

The move to the residence, which is next to the Prime Minister’s Office, is aimed at ensuring that she is prepared to manage a potential crisis.

Takaichi spent her time on Saturday, the first day of her break, at the Diet members’ dormitory.

Although she is taking her holidays, Takaichi is scheduled to attend a year-end ceremony for the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Tuesday as part of her official duties. She will also participate in a ceremony to celebrate the New Year on New Year’s Day at the Imperial Palace, where Imperial family members and the country’s leaders, including the prime minister, will offer New Year’s greetings to the Emperor and Empress.

Takaichi will return to work on Jan. 5 with a visit to Ise Shrine in Ise, Mie Prefecture, where she is scheduled to hold a press conference to kick off the New Year.

Regarding the move, Takaichi wrote on X on Dec. 21, “I would like to move into the official residence soon, leaving behind the familiar housing of the Diet members’ dorm.” In addition, she emphasized that “crisis management is the cardinal point of state management.”

The official residence is just a one-minute walk from the Prime Minister’s Office, where she conducts official duties, giving her the advantages that come with living close to her workplace, including the ability to respond promptly to unforeseen events, such as disasters.

In November, Takaichi checked the residence to confirm that it had barrier-free accessibility and living space for her husband, former lower house member Taku Yamamoto, who uses a wheelchair.

The official residence was built in 1929, when it was also used as the Prime Minister’s Office. It was later relocated to its current location and renovated. In 2005, then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi moved in, making it his official residence.

Among past prime ministers, Shinzo Abe moved into the official residence during his first administration. After making his comeback to the prime minister’s post, however, he mostly commuted to the Prime Minister’s Office from his private residence in Tomigaya, Tokyo, saying, “I can rest more leisurely at home.” Former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, meanwhile, continued living in the Diet members’ dormitory during his time in the post.