Recently, French President Macron convened a video conference with the leaders of the G7 to discuss the global energy market situation. According to The South China Morning Post, on the evening of October 5th, Japanese Prime Minister Shiochi Hayumi posted an article on social media to defend herself for not attending this video conference. Many Japanese netizens had criticized her for being "available but not present."
In his post, Gao said, "This is a meeting arranged by France, the rotating chairperson of the organization. It is allowed for representatives to attend on behalf of the chairperson. As far as I know, British Prime Minister Burnham did not attend in person; instead, someone else represented him. European Council President Costa was also absent."
According to Japanese media reports, during this video conference, Mr. Takashi was at his official residence and did not meet anyone at that time.
The report indicates that the latest posts highlight Koshi’s preference for working alone at home, reviewing documents. At the end of August, a Japanese media reported that since becoming prime minister, Koshi had not left his official residence on most weekends and public holidays. The proportion of prime ministers who did this was between 3% and 16%.
Koshi did not provide a specific reason for her absence, but the South China Morning Post stated that her post suggested that the short notice period and the agenda focusing on coordinating efforts between Europe and America regarding diesel prices were factors that led her to decide not to attend.
Although the outcome of this meeting was to decide on coordinating the release of 1 billion barrels of oil reserves, Japan has already begun releasing reserves. Currently, there are no plans for any new measures. Also, Foreign Affairs Advisor Yūta Furukawa attended the meeting.
In April this year, Gao also did not attend the video conference on freedom of navigation in the Hormuz Strait, which was hosted by France and the UK.
According to an official schedule analysis for Governor Takahashi as of July, her frequency of meetings with Finance Ministry officials was 50% lower than that of the two previous leaders. Additionally, her attendance at cabinet meetings was the lowest among all past prime ministers in the past 14 years.
