Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to travel to Britain, Italy and France from 13 to 18 June, a trip built around the Group of Seven summit in France and her first visit to Europe since she took office last October. The journey marks an important step in establishing her diplomatic profile abroad after months focused on domestic priorities.
The G7 summit will be held over three days from 15 June in Evian, in eastern France, bringing together the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, along with the European Union. The gathering will be Ms Takaichi's first as host nations rotate the presidency, and it offers her a venue to align with partners on shared economic and security concerns.
Among the leaders' expected priorities are coordinated responses to advanced artificial intelligence models, a fast-moving field that governments are struggling to govern collectively, and strategies to strengthen supply chains for critical minerals in order to reduce dependence on China. Both themes speak to anxieties about technological competition and economic security that have moved to the centre of G7 diplomacy.
For Japan, the critical-minerals agenda carries particular weight, given its dependence on imported raw materials for an advanced manufacturing base and its long-standing efforts to diversify away from concentrated suppliers. Tokyo has sought to position itself as a reliable partner in building alternative supply networks among like-minded economies.
The wider European itinerary, taking in London and Rome alongside the summit, gives Ms Takaichi a chance to deepen bilateral ties at a time of overlapping crises, from the war in Ukraine to the conflict in the Gulf that has unsettled energy markets. Such trips allow leaders to convert summit declarations into concrete bilateral understandings.
Ms Takaichi's debut on the G7 stage will be watched for how she frames Japan's role amid these pressures and how she navigates relations with the United States and European partners. The visit sets up a busy stretch of summit diplomacy as the bloc tries to present a united front on technology and supply chains.