IMAI Takaya Speaks Out

I read the interview with Imai Takaya (pictured on the right) in the March 2025 issue of Chūō Kōron.

Imai needs no introduction. During Prime Minister Abe Shinzō’s first administration, he served as a secretary, and throughout the entirety of the second administration, he was the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister (later becoming also a Special Advisor to the Prime Minister). For a total of eight years and eight months, he supported Abe’s tenure. This July 8 will mark three years since Abe’s passing.

Imai, who had previously stayed away from the media, gave an interview that proved to be highly engaging. The interviewer was Professor Makihara Izuru of the University of Tokyo.

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There were a couple of things that Imai had never mentioned in public—things that do not even appear in Funabashi Yōichi’s extensive book, Shukumei no Ko, (or A Son of Fate.)

1.

He believed that what destroys a country is war and fiscal collapse.

He specifically named those who had urged the Ministry of Finance to spend more and disburse more—the so-called "Anti-MOF faction": Honda Etsurō, Takahashi Yōichi, and, among LDP politicians, Nishida Shōji, Takaichi Sanae, and (also) Suga Yoshihide. He then stated that confronting them was, “to be honest, my greatest task.” Incidentally, according to this article, Prime Minister Abe found it amusing that Imai still habitually referred to the Ministry of Finance as “ōkurashō” rather than “Zaimushō.”

2.

The fact that scheduling was key is something covered in Funabashi’s book, and I had also heard it directly from Imai. But that he planned three years ahead—this was a first. I had no idea it spanned that long.

And then, the daily gathering held as long as the Prime Minister was at the Kantei—consisting of the Prime Minister, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, the three Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretaries, plus Imai—was called, as Imai himself put it, the Chief and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretaries' Meeting. Its primary daily purpose was mostly to “share the schedule.” This, too, was revealed for the first time.

One small note: Imai claims that they knew in advance—not just the scheduling but also the content—of the entire process leading up to the 70th Anniversary Statement, including the speeches Prime Minister Abe delivered to the Australian and U.S. lawmakers. That part, however, is something of an overstatement. What would be said in the speeches was largely a product of ongoing deliberation.

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What I realized anew upon reading this was that at the very core of the administration, standing quite literally at Abe’s side as his sokkin -- both beside him and close to him -- was a man who was, in every sense of the word, a realist. And it was precisely because of this that Prime Minister Abe felt he had to keep Imai close as his most trusted confidant, reaffirmed that decision day after day, and masterfully made full use of him.

Which reminds me—compared to him, I (and in a different way, Honda Etsurō as well) was a romanticist when it came to Prime Minister Abe. But then, in the next instant, I tell myself: given my role, I had to be. That was what my position demanded. And that thought reassures me.

But did Imai not possess even a trace of romanticism? Anyone who reads Funabashi’s 1200-page book to the very end will close it with tears welling up. I am among those who know better than anyone that Imai held an unparalleled devotion and deep affection for the Prime Minister. The interviewer, however, did not explore this. To me, that is a glaring omission.

And yet, look at this photo. The face of the most formidable secretary to have ever served the most formidable Prime Minister in history.

And this face—this unflinching face—was before the interviewer the entire time, yet he never thought to ask, “What were your weekends like? How was your family life?” This was an interview. He could have asked with a straight face. But it seems his curiosity never extended that far.

A regrettable omission.

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