S/ Takaichi Sanae, Japanese Prime Minister / The Japan-US alliance is an extremely important cornerstone of our foreign and security policy, and I would like to continue cooperating with President Trump to further strengthen Japan-US relations.

Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae made the comments in Tokyo on the evening of November 5 after the Republicans suffered heavy losses in the US midterm elections.

She refrained from commenting on the election results, saying it concerns the domestic affairs of another country, but emphasized the importance of continued coordination with US President Donald Trump.

Takaichi is scheduled to attend ASEAN and APEC summit meetings in mid-November along with Trump, and the Japanese government is carefully considering how to facilitate bilateral interactions on the sidelines of those events.