A year after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office, young people's approval ratings fell... 'Sanakatsu' craze poems

(Tokyo = Yonhap News) Correspondent Jo Sung-mi = As Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi marks the one-year anniversary of her election as president of the Liberal Democratic Party on the 4th, the Mainichi Shimbun pointed out that the 'Takaichi craze' that arose mainly among young people, especially women, is fading away.

Prime Minister Takaichi won the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election on October 4 last year and launched a cabinet on the 21st of the same month, becoming the first female prime minister in Japanese history.

As a 'non-hereditary politician' who did not come from a powerful family, he caused a sensation with his image of reform and broke the glass ceiling in the male-dominated Japanese political world, creating a 'Sanakatsu' (サナ活) wind, especially among the younger generation.

'Sanakatsu' is a combination of the nickname 'Sana', which is taken from Takaichi's name Sanae, and 'Oshikatsu (推し活)', which is an activity to cheer on one's favorite celebrity or character.

There are also people who buy products that Prime Minister Takaichi likes or look up to him like a celebrity.

Mainichi analyzed that voters who had high expectations for Prime Minister Takaichi were dissatisfied with the policy achievements of Takaichi's cabinet over the past year, and the public sentiment in the middle class was divided.

Ms. A, a woman in her 30s who lives in Chiba Prefecture and works in the aviation industry, pointed out to this newspaper that Prime Minister Takaichi's remarks suggesting 'intervention in Taiwan's emergency' and the relationship with China have become distant, and said, "I wonder if this is really helpful to Japan."

He also expressed disappointment in responding to rising prices, saying, "There are no policies that can improve people's lives, and nothing has changed."

Mainichi pointed out that even the term ‘Sanakatsu’ disappeared from social media (SNS).

However, the approval rating for Takaichi's cabinet was calculated to be 45% in this newspaper's survey last month, still exceeding the disapproval rate of 40%. It has fallen considerably from the over 65% recorded when the cabinet was launched.

Mainichi analyzed, “As the excitement at the time of the launch of the government is subsiding, the cabinet’s approval rating is being solidly supported by a solid conservative support base, estimated at around 40%.”

Meanwhile, the Nippon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported that Prime Minister Takaichi, who is carrying out expansionary finances under the slogan of 'responsible active finance', is listening to the opinions of orthodox officials in establishing economic policy, contrary to the opinion that he excludes the opinions of the Ministry of Finance.

However, it was pointed out that there is a political burden for him, who claims to be the political successor to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to reveal that he is taking a different line from 'Abenomics', which focuses on expanding fiscal spending.

Nikkei said, "Prime Minister Takaichi has shown two sides: market consideration using the Ministry of Finance and anti-Finance policy. However, in a situation where even the U.S. government is raising problems with Japan's economic policy, ambiguous actions that are conscious of supporters have reached their limits," and pointed out that the Takaichi Cabinet needs to revise its economic policy, which is focused on expansionary finances.