Japan’s Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae has found herself in hot water after quietly scrubbing years of blog posts from her official website. The mass deletion came after an investigation revealed that her past writings directly contradicted her recent claims that a consumption tax reduction was her “long-cherished dream.”
Rather than addressing the contradiction head-on, Takaichi chose the delete button. When finally pressed on it in parliament, her explanation was…well, not entirely believable.
Takaichi scrubs years of blog posts after tax flip-flop exposed
In January, Takaichi told reporters that reducing the consumption tax on food to zero percent was her “long-cherished dream” (悲願; higan). It was a bold claim, positioning her as a champion of consumer relief at a time when consumer prices in Japan continue to skyrocket.
But on February 17, President Online published the results of a thorough review of roughly 1,000 blog posts from Takaichi’s official website. They painted a very different picture.
In those posts, Takaichi had argued that “the burden of consumption tax on the public is low” and that “raising the consumption tax rate ultimately benefits the people.” Not exactly the words of someone who has spent years dreaming of tax cuts.
By February 18, every single column on her official site had vanished. The “Column” section was gone entirely from the navigation, and attempts to access old posts via direct URLs returned nothing.
The timing was impossible to ignore, given that the deletion happened the day after the President Online exposé went live. On social media, the reaction was swift and merciless, with users posting screenshots and cached versions of the old site.
“She really destroyed the evidence,” one user laughed.
What made the situation worse was the total silence from Takaichi’s camp. On the same day the columns disappeared, her website was updated with a cheerful “Album updated!” notice, with zero mention of the wholesale removal of years of political writing.
As commentators pointed out, politicians can and do evolve on policy. But there’s a difference between publicly acknowledging a change in position and quietly deleting the receipts. The silent deletion only reinforced the impression that Takaichi’s “long-cherished dream” was nothing more than a convenient line crafted for the cameras.
PM claims she simply had no time to update her site
It took nearly a week, but Takaichi was finally forced to address the deletion publicly.
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On February 24, during House of Representatives question time, Chudo Kaikaku Rengo leader Ogawa Junya asked her directly whether the reports were true and, if so, why.
Takaichi confirmed the deletion, then explained that during the election period, her site had been converted into a campaign-focused candidate page. When reverting it back to normal afterward, she said, she decided to remove the column section because she had not had time to write new posts since becoming prime minister.
Takaichi also claimed that a section about her political stance, which mentioned her commitment to legislating through private members’ bills, was removed because a sitting prime minister cannot submit such bills. The whole site, she insisted, was simply being made “simpler and easier to read.”
Of course, Takaichi’s excuse conveniently sidestepped the core issue. Her years of writing in favor of consumption tax increases contradict her newfound love of a tax cut for food. If anything, the flimsy explanation only deepened doubts about whether she has any genuine intention of following through on the tax cut, or whether it was just another promise designed to be quietly scrubbed when it becomes inconvenient.
For a prime minister who wants voters to trust her on tax relief, the message could not be clearer: actions speak louder than deletions.
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Sources
高市首相、「消費税の負担は低い」主張していた過去のコラムを全削除。「悲願だった」発言との矛盾指摘後に #エキスパートトピ. Yahoo! News JP
高市早苗首相、公式サイトのコラム欄削除理由を説明 衆院代表質問で中道・小川代表の指摘に. Nikkan Sports
