Japan's Takaichi talks tough on immigration prior vote

TOKYO: Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pledged to make Japan 'more prosperous and safer', including through tougher immigration screening, in a final appeal to voters on the eve of snap elections. Opinion polls suggest that Takaichi's ruling bloc, led by the Liberal Democratic Party, could romp home in Sunday's vote and secure a two-thirds majority in the powerful lower house.
'Pushing the button for growth is the Takaichi cabinet's job. Japan will become more and more prosperous and safer,' Takaichi, 64, told a campaign rally attended by thousands in Tokyo. 'This is the year in which we want to turn the anxieties people feel about their lives today and about the future into hope,' she said.
The arch-conservative Takaichi became Japan's fifth premier in as many years in October. Immigration screening 'has already become a little stricter, so that terrorists, and also industrial spies, cannot enter easily,' Takaichi said on Saturday. 'We must properly examine whether (foreigners) are paying taxes, whether they are paying their health insurance premiums,' Takaichi said. — AFP