Japan’s Takaichi Lets LDP Lawmakers Choose Gifts for Election Success; Opposition Criticizes Move

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:30 JST, February 25, 2026

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sent catalogs to Liberal Democratic Party members who won seats in the Feb. 8 House of Representatives election, from which they could chose gifts to celebrate their victory, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

Takaichi, who is also LDP president, posted on X on Tuesday that the catalogs were sent to the lawmakers from the LDP Nara Prefecture 2nd Electoral District Branch, of which she is the representative. This invited criticism from opposition parties and may affect Diet deliberations on the budget for the next fiscal year.

At a plenary session of the House of Councillors on Wednesday, Takaichi said that she sent catalogs of gifts worth about ¥30,000 each to the other 315 LDP lower house members.

According to multiple government and LDP sources, staff close to the prime minister visited the offices of the lawmakers to deliver the catalogs. “I decided to present gift catalogs to all LDP lower house members so they can select items that will be useful for their political activities,” Takaichi posted on X. She also stressed that political subsides granted to the LDP have not been used.

In March last year, then Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba distributed gift vouchers worth ¥100,000 each to 15 first-time lower house members of the LDP, drawing criticism from both ruling and opposition parties.

Centrist Reform Alliance leader Junya Ogawa criticized Takaichi on X, saying she could invite the same criticism as Ishiba, adding, “Your accountability will be severely questioned.”

During interpellations by party representatives on the prime minister’s policy speech at the Diet’s plenary session, Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Masayo Tanabu questioned Takaichi on the matter. In response, she said, “I gave the catalogs to them partly as a way to express my appreciation for their victories achieved from hard fighting in the election.”

“There are no issues from a legal standpoint,” she said.

The Political Funds Control Law in principle forbids donations of money or items to individual politicians for their political activities, but this does not apply to donations from political parties.

Tanabu made reference to Ishiba’s distribution of gift vouchers to LDP lawmakers and said, “The issue of politics and money is still ongoing.”