Politics & Government

Japan PM Sanae Takaichi to Skip Overseas New Year Trip, Focus on Domestic Policy

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:14 JST, December 30, 2025

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will forgo overseas diplomatic trips at the beginning of the new year and will focus on domestic policy, such as tackling rising prices.

It has been customary for prime ministers to make birateral visits before an ordinary Diet session convenes in January. Instead, Takaichi has encouraged ministers to make diplomatic visits during the period, according to a government official.

In Thursday’s speech in Tokyo, Takaichi touched on her commitment to summit diplomacy by saying, “I will push Japan back to great heights in the world.”

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However, most of her speech was dedicated to economic policies, such as the fiscal 2026 budget and tax reforms.

Since taking office in October, Takaichi visited Malaysia, South Korea and South Africa to attend international conferences but has not conducted any bilateral visits.

An ordinary Diet session will convene on Jan. 23, providing some leeway, but no overseas trips are scheduled for January.

Since 2013, trips taken by prime ministers right after the new year were only skipped four times: in 2016 when a Diet session convened early on Jan. 4, in 2021 and 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2024 when the Noto Peninsula Earthquake occurred.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi will visit Israel and Palestine in mid-January and also plans to visit India. Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi plans to arrange a visit to the United States to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Takaichi will not attend the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, from Jan. 19 -23. U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders are scheduled to attend. Koizumi is expected to participate for the first time as defense minister.

Takaichi is expected to meet with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, both of whom are set to visit Japan on separate occasions before the ordinary Diet session convenes. She also expressed her desire to visit the United States around March to meet Trump.