Finance Minister Katayama told reporters after the cabinet meeting on 23 October 2026 that she did not think the government had decided whether to extend energy subsidies this winter. Asked about reports that Tokyo is weighing aid for winter electricity and gas bills and a continuation of gasoline subsidies, she said that if the prime minister gives a policy or instruction, the ministry will naturally respond, but that she did not think a decision had been made and had nothing to announce.
Subsidies: effective, but undecided
Katayama said the support began in early March on the prime minister's decision, after the Gulf crisis at the end of February, and that she believes it has been very effective. The reporter's question also asked about the current arrangement of holding gasoline at roughly ¥170 per litre. Her answer did not address that level directly. She said settings would be made by looking at conditions in people's lives so that economic activity is not affected.
Her answer gave no funding source and no start date for any winter measure, both points the question raised.
Content budget: lessons from Cool Japan Fund
A reporter noted that the Fiscal System Council the previous day had raised a direction for budget reform in light of the failure of the Cool Japan Organization, and asked how Katayama would approach the year-end budget from the standpoint of advancing a Japanese version of DOGE. She said people across the political spectrum agree that past failures must be reflected. Content is one of 17 strategic fields, she said, and proposals have come from ministries and from private-sector leaders who visited her.
Katayama pointed to her earlier remarks within the "Strong and Prosperous Japan" investment framework, including the "5W1H" and the problems with funds, and said everything must be combined into something the public will accept. She gave no budget figure.
PHP vulnerability: a rehearsal, she says
In her opening remarks Katayama said many financial institutions halted systems as a precaution over the PHP vulnerability, partly after alerts from the NCO. She said the Financial Services Agency has run a public-private council on AI threats since April. In May it set out that actively stopping a system is one option when patching is needed, and asked financial institutions to prepare accordingly.
Katayama called the response relatively smooth. She said that by the morning of the previous day patching had finished and many sites were visible again, and described it as useful early rehearsal. She added that widely used software still requires reliable responses and that the risk is expected to rise further, so the government will work with relevant bodies to urge the financial sector to take further steps. She said the Ministry of Finance's own website recovered fairly early.