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Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Japan Innovation Party head Hirofumi Yoshimura (left) meet in Tokyo on Monday. | JIJI By Eric Johnston STAFF WRITER SHARE/SAVE X Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Bluesky Threads Email Print Bookmark story Copy link Feb 10, 2026 Japan Innovation Party (JIP) leader Hirofumi Yoshimura said Tuesday that he has agreed to a request from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that a member of his party join her Cabinet when she reshuffles it.

“During our conversation, Takaichi formally requested that someone from the JIP join the Cabinet during the next reshuffle. In response, and following (Sunday’s) election results, I believe I should serve as the accelerator within the coalition government,” Yoshimura said Tuesday afternoon.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); });

“From that perspective, I believe a JIP member should join the coalition Cabinet, and I conveyed this to Takaichi.”

It is not clear what Cabinet position a JIP member might receive or when a Cabinet reshuffle will take place.

The JIP, also known as Nippon Ishin no Kai, won 36 seats in Sunday’s Lower House election, a fraction of the 316 seats — a two-thirds majority — won by Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party.

LDP and JIP candidates went against one another in district seats on Sunday despite being members of the same coalition. While the JIP did well in its Osaka base, it struggled elsewhere.

The LDP and the JIP forged a policy agreement last October, leading to their coalition following the departure of the former’s decades-long partner, Komeito.

Following Sunday’s election, both sides confirmed they would honor the agreement. It includes proposals, demanded by the JIP, to reduce the number of parliamentary seats by 10%, which many LDP members oppose, and establish a secondary capital.

Yoshimura also was reelected Osaka governor on Sunday night along with Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama in a snap election the JIP leader called as a way to build public support for his Osaka metropolis plan, which would merge the city’s wards along the lines of Tokyo’s system.

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