Japan's Finance Minister relaunches a DOGE-style review of public spending and targets more than 200 government funds

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama has announced a wide-ranging review of the state’s spending and tax incentives as part of Japan’s version of the DOGE program, launched after the initiative promoted in the United States by Elon Musk. The decision comes as Japan reduces the consumption tax on food and prepares to increase spending on defense, investment and crisis management.

Katayama said the review was “essential” to ensuring fiscal sustainability and that checks carried out so far had not been sufficient. The minister promised to strengthen and deepen the program by examining the activities of ministries and government agencies and gradually presenting concrete plans.

Japan’s version of DOGE was launched in November 2025. The first campaign was criticized after identifying only one tax incentive that could be eliminated out of a total of 120 reviewed, according to the Asahi newspaper.

The new phase targets more than 200 government funds. To speed up the reviews, an executive committee will be created to coordinate the analysis and propose measures to make public spending more efficient.