Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has pledged government support for massive investment in shipbuilding as part of a stimulus package. The move aims to build a robust economy through public and private spending, emphasizing crisis management and growth investments. Plans also include ramping up rare earth trial production near Minamitori Island amid China's tightened export controls.
On November 11, 2025, during a meeting of its growth strategy task force, the Japanese government pledged support for massive investment in shipbuilding as part of its stimulus package. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took office last month, seeks to build a robust economy through public and private sector spending, focusing on bold investments to enhance resilience against potential crises.
The task force, charged with forming a new economic strategy by next summer, recommended in its first meeting using the package to initiate robust growth via 'crisis management investment and growth investment,' according to released documents. 'We need to boost private investment through measures that enhance the predictability of investment,' Takaichi said Monday after the meeting.
The government designated 17 strategic fields, including shipbuilding, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors, assigning each to relevant ministers with instructions to draw up road maps detailing specific investment plans, aiming for finalization by next summer. Shipbuilding was an area where Takaichi and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to promote cooperation during their meeting last month.
As part of the growth strategy measures, to be included in an economic package compiled by month's end, the government plans tax breaks to encourage private sector capital spending. An advocate of 'responsible and proactive' fiscal expansion, Takaichi said her government will finance the steps with a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year through March.
With rising living costs burdening households, the stimulus is expected to feature expanded subsidies for local governments to ease residents' financial loads, as well as aid for electricity and gas bills in winter, sources said.
Takaichi appointed growth strategy task force members including Takuji Aida, chief economist at Credit Agricole Securities Tokyo, and Goshi Kataoka, a former Bank of Japan Policy Board member. Newly selected private-sector members of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy include former BOJ Deputy Governor Masazumi Wakatabe and Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, both seen as supportive of her agenda.
The Japan Innovation Party, coalition partner to Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party, has proposed a new economic package to improve livelihoods by better utilizing limited fiscal resources. Led by Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura, it calls for a new government bureau to review inefficient tax privileges and large subsidies, and legislation exempting food and beverages from consumption tax for two years. The party plans to submit the proposal to Takaichi on Tuesday.