Hayashi admits minor edits to new Cabinet photo on gov website

Recently, a group photo of Cabinet ministers underwent digital edits before being posted online by the government, as revealed by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi. Media reports highlighted the alteration of the image, with photographers noticing discrepancies between the original pictures and the ones on the Prime Minister’s Office website. Notably, the edited photo showed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Defense Minister Gen Nakatani with their white shirts tucked in, unlike the photos captured by domestic media.

Hayashi acknowledged that minor editing is a common practice for official Cabinet photos taken at the Prime Minister’s Office, aimed at preserving historical mementos for posterity. The controversy surrounding the edited photo arose after its release last Tuesday, following Ishiba’s Cabinet lineup announcement. Critics on social media dubbed the visible white shirts as indicative of a “sloppy Cabinet.”