Japan PM says housework makes her busier than male predecessors

TOKYO

A woman walks past a screen showing Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaking at a House of Representatives meeting at the National Diet building in Tokyo on October 14, 2026. (AFP Photo)

Japan’s prime minister said on Oct. 14 that she probably spends “three or four more hours” than her male predecessors tackling household duties on top of her already packed daily schedule.

“In the morning, I bathe, fix breakfast and then wash dishes, not to mention apply makeup,” Sanae Takaichi, elected last year as Japan’s first woman premier, told parliament.

“I feel like I’m spending three or four more hours than male prime ministers doing these things.”

A self-described workaholic, Takaichi has previously said she slept just two to four hours a night and sometimes scheduled 3 a.m. staff meetings.

Gender roles are rigid in Japan and women are chronically under-represented in politics, with just 68 women lawmakers elected out of 465 seats up for grabs at the last lower house election in February.

Discussions about Takaichi’s time management came up when a ruling coalition member asked her about the marathon hours Japanese prime ministers customarily spend attending parliamentary sessions.

Takaichi said in a post on X in July that she was “getting consumed until dawn with poring over documents brought home from work and those related to parliamentary questioning.”

“I do enjoy reading these piles of documents at midnight that I took home,” she said on Oct. 14.

“But it is difficult for me to squeeze out time to buckle down and think with a clear head” about “the future direction of this country or my grand vision for it,” she said.