News24 | Japan PM says housework makes her busier than her male predecessors

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi previously reveleaved she sleeps just two to four hours every night.

Jiji Press/AFP

• Japan’s prime minister revealed on Wednesday that she most likely puts in three to four extra hours a day on domestic chores compared with the men who served before her, all while juggling an already full daily workload.
• A self-described workaholic, Takaichi has previously said she slept just two to four hours a night and sometimes scheduled 03:00 staff meetings.
• Takaichi said all the work she has to do makes it difficult for her to have time to think about the direction her country is going in, and her vision for it.

Japan's prime minister said on Wednesday 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 am 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 arose when a ruling coalition member asked her about the marathon hours that Japanese prime ministers customarily spend attending parliamentary sessions.

It is common for Japanese leaders to devote five to seven hours a day being grilled by opposition lawmakers or otherwise just sitting in parliament.

Citing a study, lawmaker Fumitake Fujita of the Japan Innovation Party said that, in 2022, Japan's prime minister attended parliamentary sessions for 72 days, compared with 50 days in the United Kingdom and 13 in Germany.

While acknowledging the importance of legislative discussions, Fujita said: "The fact that our leader is confined for such long hours to parliament isn't in line with the global standards."

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 Wednesday.

"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.