Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stands beside the sign of the secretariat for the Headquarters for Japan’s Growth Strategy on Nov. 4 with Minoru Kiuchi, the minister in charge of the issue. (Pool)

To fuel economic growth through public-private investments focused on economic security, the Takaichi administration designated 17 strategic fields, including artificial intelligence, semiconductors, shipbuilding and quantum technology.

“We will forcefully advance a growth strategy to fundamentally strengthen Japan’s supply structure and build a strong economy,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told the inaugural meeting of the Headquarters for Japan’s Growth Strategy on Nov. 4.

Cabinet ministers, who were appointed to oversee each field, were instructed to examine measures such as multi-year budget allocations and to present quantitative projections, including the expected contribution of investments to the economic growth rate.

In addition, eight “cross-cutting issues” to be tackled, including human resource development, labor market reform and reducing the burden of caregiving and child-rearing, were listed.

The establishment of the headquarters, led by Takaichi and involving all her ministers, was formally approved at a Cabinet meeting earlier on Nov. 4.

At the headquarters’ inaugural session, the government also decided to set up the Council for Japan’s Growth Strategy, which will discuss the growth strategy with experts.

In her policy speech to the Diet on Oct. 24, Takaichi announced the launch of the new council, declaring her intention to promote bold “crisis management investments” to achieve robust economic growth.

Along with near-term measures to counter soaring prices, this initiative will form a central pillar of her administration’s economic policy.

Minoru Kiuchi, the minister in charge of Japan’s growth strategy, has said, “Investment that leads to growth is overwhelmingly lacking.”

Similar councils have been created under different names by successive governments since the second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The Council of New Form of Capitalism Realization, established by former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and retained by Shigeru Ishiba, Takaichi’s predecessor, will be abolished.

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17 STRATEGIC FIELDS

* AI and semiconductors

* Shipbuilding

* Quantum technology

* Synthetic biology and biotechnology

* Aviation and space

* Digital and cybersecurity

* Content industry

* Food tech

* Resource, energy security and green transformation

* Disaster prevention and national resilience

* Drug discovery and advanced medicine

* Fusion energy

* Materials (critical minerals and component materials)

* Port logistics

* Defense industry

* Information and communications

* Marine and ocean

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