According to a report by the Japanese Kyodo News, earlier this month, Japanese Prime Minister Yukie Akamine was criticized for missing the G7 summit video conference without any reason. On October 16th local time, she argued that the reason for her absence was that 'the meeting time was notified unexpectedly, and there was no time to prepare the equipment.'
At the Senate Budget Committee meeting that day, Gao said that the timing of the meeting was determined only as it approached, and there was no time to arrange for technicians to test the lines and complete equipment settings.
She added, "This item of discussion concerns matters between the United States and Europe; our side has received notification that we can be represented at the meeting."
On October 2nd, local time, French President Macron held a G7 leader video conference to discuss the global energy market situation. About an hour and a half before the video conference began, around 8 p.m. that evening, Goto was still having dinner with high-level party members such as Taro Aso, the vice chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, at the Prime Minister's residence.
At the budget committee meeting, Constitutional Democratic Party member Tsuji Motomie questioned whether Mayor Takashi gave priority to having a dinner. Mayor Takashi denied this, arguing that "this matter has nothing to do with whether one can attend the meeting," and said that she was writing the speech for her policy proposal during the meeting.
Since US President Trump attended this video conference, Tsuji Motomiyuki expressed concerns: 'With the Prime Minister absent from the meeting based on his own judgment, will Japan be marginalized? The Prime Minister should have been present at this meeting.'
According to information from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the G7 online summit held 2 meetings in 2023, 4 meetings in 2024, and 1 meeting in 2025. The then Prime Ministers, Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishihara, attended all of them.
Previously, many Japanese netizens criticized Kaishi for not attending the meeting when she was available. On October 5th, Kaishi posted on the X platform, stating that “this was a meeting arranged by France, the rotating chair of the conference, and representatives were allowed to attend in her place.” She did not provide any specific reasons for her absence at that time.
She still claimed, "According to my understanding, UK Prime Minister Bornem also did not attend in person and was represented by someone else, while the president of the European Council, Costello, was absent as well." Gao added that the Foreign Affairs Review Officer, Yujin, attended the meeting on her behalf.
