Japan’s PM Plans Pay Cuts for Herself, All Cabinet Members

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to revise the Public Sector Salary Law to reduce the pay of all Cabinet members, including her own, during the current extraordinary session of the Diet.

According to Japan’s Jiji Press, the government will hold a meeting on Tuesday to confirm the suspension of additional allowances for the prime minister and ministers, which currently make their salaries higher than those of lawmakers.

Takaichi’s decision appears aimed at demonstrating her commitment to reform, fulfilling her long-standing pledge to cut ministerial salaries.

The Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), the new coalition partner of Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has been pushing for broader reforms to reduce lawmakers’ privileges.

At her first press conference in October, Takaichi said she would seek to revise the law so that Cabinet members’ salaries would not exceed those of legislators. The government is now considering including a clause in the law to suspend extra allowances for the prime minister and ministers “for the time being.”