Prime Minister Takaichi's piano-backed disaster visit video sparks online backlash
A video of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s helicopter tour of earthquake-stricken Kumamoto, set to piano music, drew criticism on social media as a political PR stunt.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visited Kumamoto Prefecture after the deadly July 28 magnitude-7.1 earthquake, and the Prime Minister's Office released a brief video of the trip set to piano music. The clip shows her arriving by helicopter, greeting residents and touring an evacuation shelter, and was intended, according to spokesperson Minoru Kihara, to provide an easy-to-understand summary of the inspection. Social-media users on X quickly condemned the footage, calling it overt government PR and accusing the Takaichi administration of leveraging the disaster for political gain.
Some commenters also alleged that the prime minister spent merely three minutes inside the shelter; Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs Kozo Saiki countered that she remained there for 51 minutes. The episode arrives as the prime minister’s initial popularity wanes, with recent polls indicating a decline in cabinet approval ratings.
Why it matters
It highlights how political leaders’ communication tactics can provoke public distrust during disaster recovery.
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