Foreign media react to Takaichi sleep post

2026-07-25

Foreign media reacted one after another after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi posted on X, formerly Twitter, about getting too little sleep. Reports highlighted concerns about the working reality of the country's top executive and about health, while also citing reactions within Japan.

Foreign media reactions

On the evening of the 20th, the prime minister posted that she had 'managed to sleep for five hours for the first time in a while' and said she was also tied up with housework, in addition to 'reading materials brought home from the Prime Minister's Office and materials for Diet responses'. She also revealed that sleeping only 0 to 3 hours had become routine since taking office.

The New York Times reported against the backdrop of Japan's labour environment. It said that since entering politics, the prime minister has placed diligence at the core of her identity as a politician. It also said that in Japan, long overtime hours tend to be seen as a sign of loyalty and diligence.

At the same time, there has been no shortage of cool reactions. CNN reported that the prime minister's busy-posting had backfired, while South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo carried the headline 'Cool reaction to Takaichi's overwork appeal'. The BBC said: 'Can a country be run on three hours of sleep? Japan's prime minister apparently can.'

Health concerns

Australia's public broadcaster ABC highlighted the need for the prime minister to maintain her physical condition. It quoted an expert as saying that she must 'control her emotions and maintain flexible cognitive abilities'.

It is unusual for a prime minister to reveal her health condition and sleep time on social media. Since taking office, the prime minister has repeatedly explained in Diet testimony and elsewhere that she has not been able to secure enough sleep. As the health of a national leader is also regarded as a 'state secret', concerns have emerged from the standpoint of crisis management.

At a press conference on the 23rd, Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi said he had told the prime minister, 'The workload is extraordinary, but please sleep.' Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, also said, 'Rest is work too.'

At a press conference the same day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said that X is not an administrative document, and added that the prime minister's post was 'a post from a personal account, and we would refrain from commenting as the government'.

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