New English Edition
Artificial Intelligence in Horticulture
Kim Kyung-jin, Attorney at Law
Across five chapters and ten sections, this book examines computer vision for crop diagnosis, harvesting robots and autonomous field systems, smart greenhouses and digital twins, precision irrigation and supply-chain quality control, high-throughput phenotyping, and predictive breeding.
New English Edition
Artificial Intelligence in Food Crop Agriculture
Kim Kyung-jin, Attorney at Law
Across six chapters and eighteen sections, the book examines digital agricultural infrastructure, remote sensing, crop diagnosis, yield forecasting, precision irrigation, genomics, molecular breeding, agricultural robotics, climate-smart agriculture, and global food security.
New English Edition
The Future of Forestry and Agroforestry
Kim Kyung-jin, Attorney at Law
Driven by Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation
Across five chapters and fifteen sections, the book follows satellites, drones, LiDAR, digital twins, forest-specific language models, wildfire and pest forecasting, forestry robotics, agroforestry, timber traceability, and forest carbon markets.
New English Edition
Smart Livestock Farming: AI Enters the Barn
Kim Kyung-jin, Attorney at Law
Sensors listen, cameras watch, and artificial intelligence helps farmers decide.
Across five chapters and fifteen sections, the book follows precision livestock farming from animal health and reproduction to robotic milking, virtual fencing, digital twins, methane reduction, welfare, and data ownership.
Table of Contents
Han Dong-hoon, Busan Buk-gu Gap: A Record of the 100 Days Before and After the Election (Mar. 26-Jul. 3, 2026)
Kim Kyung-jin
Table of Contents and 13 sections
From March 26 to July 3, 2026, this record follows the spring after expulsion, the Busan Buk-gu Gap by-election, victory as an independent, and the first bill submitted in the National Assembly.
Table of Contents
Artificial Intelligence and Medicine
Kim Kyung-jin, Attorney at Law
AI in clinical care, hospitals, education, and research
AI in medical imaging, risk prediction, treatment planning, hospital operations, education, and research, with patient safety, privacy, and accountability.
[AI Library] Chapter 11: First Cabinet Appointment, From Okinawa to Innovation
Beyond the Glass Ceiling
Part 3: Growth — From Cabinet Member to Party Center
Chapter 11: First Cabinet Appointment, From Okinawa to Innovation
Kim Kyung-jin
On the morning of September 26, 2006, at the Imperial Palace (皇居), an attestation ceremony was held for Shinzo Abe (安倍晋三) as he was appointed the 90th Prime Minister of Japan. Born in 1954, Abe was 52 years old at the time. He was the youngest Prime Minister in post-war Japan and the first Prime Minister born in the post-war era.
That afternoon, the roster for the new cabinet was announced. Sanae Takaichi's name was included.
She was appointed Minister of State for Special Missions (内閣府特命担当大臣). She was responsible for five areas: Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs (沖縄及び北方対策), Science and Technology Policy (科学技術政策), Declining Birthrate and Gender Equality (少子化・男女共同参画), Food Safety (食品安全), and Innovation (イノベーション).
It was a cabinet entry—her first appointment.
It had taken 13 years since she first entered the Diet as an independent in 1993. After two electoral defeats, three party changes, and a stint as a professor, she finally donned the ministerial badge at the end of that winding path.
The media captured Takaichi holding her official cabinet appointment letter. Her expression was calm—a look of resolve rather than overwhelming emotion.
The Abe Cabinet adopted the slogan 'Departure from the Post-War Regime' (戦後レジームからの脱却). This meant fundamentally changing the post-war system through constitutional amendment, educational reform, and strengthening security policy. It was a cabinet that placed conservative ideology at the forefront, and Takaichi's views aligned perfectly with that ideology.
It is worth taking a closer look at her five assigned areas.
Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs. This is one of the most sensitive and complex files in Japanese politics. Okinawa has a history distinct from mainland Japan. It was a battlefield during World War II and was under U.S. trusteeship after the war, only returning to Japan in 1972. Even after its return, U.S. military bases remained concentrated there. Although Okinawa accounts for only 0.6% of Japan's land area, it hosts approximately 70% of the land used for U.S. military facilities.
Base noise, crime, and environmental pollution were long-standing grievances for Okinawa's residents. In 1995, demands for base relocation exploded following a sexual assault incident involving U.S. military personnel. Since then, the relocation of Futenma Air Base (普天間基地) has become a chronic challenge for Japanese politics, one that no cabinet has been able to resolve cleanly.
Northern Territories Affairs concerns the territorial dispute with Russia. Japan demands the return of the islands of Etorofu (択捉島), Kunashiri (国後島), Shikotan (色丹島), and the Habomai Islands (歯舞諸島), which were occupied by the Soviet Union immediately after World War II and which Japan calls the 'Northern Territories.' It was a diplomatic issue that had remained unresolved for over 60 years.
Science and Technology Policy and Innovation. These areas were Takaichi's strengths. Her experience working at Matsushita Electric, her time as a fellow in the U.S. Congress, and her experience lecturing on industrial policy allowed her to approach issues of technological development and industrial competitiveness from both theoretical and practical perspectives.
Declining Birthrate and Gender Equality. In 2005, Japan's total fertility rate hit an all-time low of 1.25. This was the point when the declining birthrate began to be fully recognized as a long-term challenge for Japan. Gender equality policies were aimed at promoting women's social participation. As a female politician herself, Takaichi had her own distinct perspective on these fields.
Food safety was an urgent task in Japan at the time. The early 2000s saw a string of issues including Mad Cow Disease (BSE), pesticide residues, and false labeling of origins. Public concern over food safety was at an all-time high.
Why were these five fields bundled under a single minister? To be honest, it was a feat of personnel management—a way of handling several areas of relatively low political weight by assigning them to one person. It had the character of an 'introductory' portfolio given to a first-time cabinet member. Nevertheless, she dealt with real issues within those assignments.
She visited Okinawa. She heard local requests, discussed development budgets, and listened to the voices of residents regarding base issues. Okinawa is a place where one 'feels the reality' upon visiting. Getting off the plane at Naha (那覇) Airport and driving for a while, one soon sees signs for military land. It is a landscape where military facilities are interspersed with civilian residential areas. Seeing that reality from the inside is different from looking at it from the outside.
Then came August 15, 2007.
The anniversary of the end of the war—the day Japan announced its defeat in World War II in 1945. Every year on this day, whether or not to visit Yasukuni Shrine (靖国神社) becomes a matter of intense political scrutiny in Japan.
Yasukuni Shrine enshrines approximately 2.46 million people who died in wars since the Meiji Restoration. These include 14 Class-A war criminals enshrined in 1978, including wartime leaders such as Hideki Tojo (東条英機). South Korea and China strongly criticize visits to the shrine by Japanese cabinet members, calling it a "glorification of war."
On August 15, 2007, most ministers in the Abe Cabinet announced they would not visit Yasukuni. Prime Minister Abe himself also abstained. It was an act of restraint in consideration of diplomatic relations with South Korea and China.
However, Sanae Takaichi went.
She was the only one among the 16 cabinet ministers to visit Yasukuni that day.
Why did she go? Takaichi has since maintained a consistent stance: "It is only natural to pay respects to those who gave their lives for the country. This is not a matter of historical perception but a matter of mourning the war dead." Her position was that a private visit to a religious facility should be separated from diplomatic issues.
This action drew mixed reactions at home and abroad. South Korea and China criticized it, as did liberal media within Japan. However, it garnered support from Japan's conservative base. The fact that "a minister went, even if alone," served as a turning point that etched Takaichi as a symbolic figure among Japanese conservative politicians.
Visiting Yasukuni became one of the defining acts of Takaichi's political persona. Even as she subsequently vied for the party presidency three times, she never changed her stance on Yasukuni. By 2025, when she became Prime Minister, the issue of Yasukuni visits became a central variable in Japan-South Korea diplomacy.
In September 2007, Shinzo Abe suddenly resigned. A crushing defeat in the House of Councillors election, a string of cabinet scandals, and the worsening of his ulcerative colitis led to a departure that came before he had even served a full year. Takaichi's first cabinet appointment ended along with it.
The term lasted about 11 months, from September 26, 2006, to August 27, 2007.
It was a short period, but it left a lasting legacy.
First, a sense for administration. Diet members draft legislation and ask questions, while ministers lead the organizations that execute those laws. They allocate budgets, coordinate with bureaucrats, and negotiate with other ministries and agencies. They answer questions from the opposition in the Diet. All of this is a different kind of work than that of a rank-and-file legislator. Takaichi experienced this for the first time.
Second, her bond with Abe. Shinzo Abe stepped down temporarily but did not leave politics. He returned as LDP president in 2012 and won a landslide victory in the general election, becoming the 96th Prime Minister. In that second Abe Cabinet, Takaichi was called upon again, this time for the major post of Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications. The connection between Abe and Takaichi began with her first cabinet entry in 2006, but that was just the beginning.
Third, national recognition. Minister of State for Special Missions is not a glamorous post. However, simply being a cabinet member increases media exposure. Furthermore, her visit to Yasukuni on the anniversary of the end of the war became national news. Sanae Takaichi's name became known throughout Japan.
Her first ministerial post was brief, but it laid the foundation for her next one. Her second cabinet appointment would be a much longer and more weightier position. Then came her third and fourth attempts at the party presidency, leading finally to her inauguration as Prime Minister in 2025.
An independent 32-year-old female politician waiting for election results at a polling station in Nara Prefecture in 1993. Thirteen years later, she wore her first ministerial badge. Nineteen years after that, she entered the Prime Minister's Official Residence. Every experience in between—the electoral defeats, the professorship, being a 'ninja' candidate, the solo visit to Yasukuni—all of it combined to forge the politician known as Sanae Takaichi.
Among her five assigned areas, Innovation and Science and Technology Policy were the fields Takaichi pursued with the most fervor. The Abe Cabinet prepared a long-term vision called 'Innovation 25.' It was a strategic document outlining what technological innovations Japan should achieve toward 2025, twenty-five years into the future. Takaichi led the drafting of this document. It organized the fields where Japan had strengths and those it should focus on for the future, such as robotics, biotechnology, and information and communication technology.
However, this cabinet was shaky from the start. A series of scandals involving Abe Cabinet ministers broke out. Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Toshikatsu Matsuoka (松岡利勝) took his own life in the Diet members' office building over political fund issues. His successor, Norihiko Akagi (赤城徳彦), stepped down due to problems with his political fund reports. Prime Minister Abe's own leadership was questioned immediately after the LDP suffered its worst-ever defeat in the House of Councillors election.
Amidst the chaos of ministers resigning and being replaced, Takaichi kept her post. She was never replaced after her initial appointment, which was evidence of the trust Prime Minister Abe placed in her. However, there were limits to what a single minister could do when the entire cabinet was faltering.
As the minister in charge of the declining birthrate and gender equality, Takaichi found herself in an ironic position because she had no children of her own. The media pointed this out several times, asking, "Is it appropriate for a politician without children to be in charge of measures against the declining birthrate?" Takaichi answered the question confidently: "The issue of the declining birthrate is not something that can only be handled by people with children. It is a matter of the structure and systems of society as a whole. I work to change that structure." It was an attitude of not equating personal experience with policy, and her response was even seen by some as showing the maturity of a politician.
The Abe Cabinet came to an end in September 2007. Prime Minister Abe himself suddenly announced his resignation, citing health issues and difficulties in governing. It was September 12, 2007, the first day of an extraordinary Diet session. A sudden resignation on the eve of a confrontation with the opposition—it was an announcement that even political reporters had not anticipated.
Takaichi's first cabinet appointment ended that way. Lasting from September 26, 2006, to August 27, 2007, her term was 11 months long—brief but dense. She worked in five policy areas simultaneously. She learned the reality of Okinawa on the ground. By visiting Yasukuni alone, she made her stance as a conservative politician known nationwide. She experienced the drafting of science, technology, and innovation strategies and came to understand the structure of measures against the declining birthrate.
She saw how the executive branch operates from a different angle than she had as a legislator. The logic of the bureaucracy, the coordination of interests between ministries, and the negotiation of budget allocations. Legislation is not created in the meeting rooms of the Diet members' office building. It takes shape as people traverse the narrow corridors of ministries, going through dozens of consultations before finally receiving the minister's approval. Before her cabinet appointment, she had only seen that process from the outside; it was only after entering the cabinet that she could see it from the inside.
References
- Sanae Takaichi (高市早苗) Wikipedia (Japanese): https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AB%98%E5%B8%82%E6%97%A9%E8%8B%97 - Prime Minister's Official Residence — List of Ministers of the First Abe Cabinet (第1次安倍内閣 閣僚等名簿): https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/ - Jiji.com: Lineage of Female Ministers, First Abe Cabinet (女性大臣の系譜 第1次安倍内閣): https://www.jiji.com/jc/d4?p=jwm149-24takaichi-jpp04742232&d=d4_mm - Sanae Takaichi Wikipedia (English): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanae_Takaichi - Controversies surrounding Yasukuni Shrine Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_surrounding_Yasukuni_Shrine - What I Felt Regrettable About Visiting Yasukuni Shrine (靖国神社参拝で残念に思ったこと) — Sanae Takaichi Official Website (高市早苗公式サイト): https://www.sanae.gr.jp/column_detail21.html
Her role as the minister in charge of science and technology policy and innovation was also significant. 2006 was a time when internet penetration in Japan was increasing rapidly and the foundations of a digital economy were being formed. Takaichi pondered how the government could support private-sector innovation in this field. Her experience at Matsushita Electric and the perspective she gained as a fellow in the U.S. Congress shone through in this role.
Despite the short 11-month cabinet term, Takaichi made the most of her time. Building relationships with ministry officials, preparing for Diet interpellation, and handling media—all of this was a preparatory process for her next cabinet entry as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications in 2014. Politics is not judged by short-term results alone; the experience, networks, and trust accumulated over a long period eventually lead to even greater positions.