Tokyo: On 21 October 2025, Sanae Takaichi, a close friend and protégé of the late Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, was elected as the first female Prime Minister of Japan. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Sikyong Penpa Tsering, and Speaker Khenpo Sonam Tenphel of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) have issued congratulatory messages to the newly elected Prime Minister of Japan.

Representative Dr. Tsewang Gyalpo Arya, representative of Liaison Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for Japan and East Asia visited the office of Madam Eriko Yamatani, Chairperson of the Japan Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet at the Parliament building and delivered the messages of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan leaders. Lawmaker Hiroshi Yamada, General Secretary of the Parliamentary Support Group, also attended the meeting.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in his congratulatory message, has said, “I am pleased to note that in you Japan has elected its first woman prime minister. I believe that women are more compassionate and sensitive to the feelings of others, qualities I first learned from my own loving mother…. I am therefore firmly convinced that if more of our leaders were women, the world would be a more understanding, peaceful place.”

Sikyong Penpa Tsering and Speaker Khenpo Sonam Tenphel congratulated the new Prime Minister and expressed their gratitude to the people and government of Japan for all their support and sympathy for the Tibetan cause and conveyed their hope that Japan will continue to prosper and take a leading role in promoting global peace and stability under her leadership.

Representative Dr. Arya further updated Chairperson Yamatani and General Secretary Yamada on the recent CCP’s increased raid and crackdown to confiscate H.H. the Dalai Lama’s photo from monasteries and private homes. He also informed them about the new report on the colonial style boarding schools in Tibet and the difficult situation the parents and children are facing in those schools.

Chairperson Yamatani and General Secretary Yamada expressed heartfelt thanks to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan leaders for their congratulatory messages and promised to deliver them to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the earliest opportunity. They expressed their continued support and solidarity with H.H. the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people.

-Report filed by the Office of Tibet, Japan