JAPAN: Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi Says She Felt “Lonely” After Cockroach Was Removed From Residence
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi says she felt lonely and sad after a cockroach was eliminated from her home.
The 65-year-old world leader shared the story in an X post on Saturday, Aug. 22, while answering “some of the questions I often get.” The post was originally written in Japanese.
One question was: “Have you already met the ghosts that are said to appear in the official residence?”
The question refers to legends that the Tokyo mansion is haunted by those who died during two coup attempts in the ‘30s, shortly after the home was built.
Takaichi said she has not seen any spirits. But she has seen a cockroach.
“I’ve never encountered a ghost, but until recently, I was the one screaming when I came across cockroaches,” she wrote.
She explained that even after moving to the official residence, she kept things very clean — wiping floors, using lidded bins, and washing containers. So she was shocked when “a cockroach suddenly scurried past my feet.”
Takaichi said she couldn’t bring herself to kill it, citing her love for Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix manga and its themes of reincarnation.
“Maybe this life is also part of that long cycle of reincarnation,” she recalled thinking.
She let the insect roam for a while. But when she told her secretaries, they were appalled.
“‘It’s unclean. I’ll handle it,’ one of the secretaries said firmly, and arranged for Operation Combat.”
After staff took action, she saw no more cockroaches.
“I felt relieved, but also a little lonely, or maybe sad…” she wrote.
Takaichi also noted in a separate X post that she has been working more from the prime minister’s home next to her office.