Tokyo (AFP) — Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Thursday she only sleeps for between two and four hours every night, while she also faces criticism for encouraging people to overwork.

The revelation about how little she sleeps came after Takaichi raised eyebrows last week by arranging a 3 am staff meeting in her office to prepare for a parliamentary session.

“I sleep about two hours now, four hours at the longest. I feel it’s bad for my skin,” she told a legislative committee, where she had been asked about the importance of reducing Japan’s notoriously long work hours.

Japan has long struggled to strike a healthy work-life balance, with many workers facing heavy pressure at the office.

It even has a word — “karoshi” — for people who die from overwork.

Takaichi was also a

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