Morning questioning kept farm minister Yan Kazuo under pressure over budget-cut remarks and free shuttle buses, with Takaichi saying she could not state with conviction it violated election law and would decide after meeting him. By evening Yan entered the prime minister's office and submitted his resignation, saying he could cause no further trouble. Outlets called it effectively a dismissal, the first scandal-driven exit under Takaichi and, at 28 days, the shortest since the LDP's return to power, with attention turning to her appointment responsibility and stalled farm policy.
Running alongside, Russia's FSB detention of a Hokkaido Shimbun reporter in Sakhalin on spying allegations hardened, with a court ordering two months' custody and Tokyo unable to gain contact despite demands for information and humanitarian treatment. Sankei also reported fresh Russian bombing drills around Etorofu, protested by Tokyo.