Prime Minister Fumio Kishida moved to the prime minister's official residence over the weekend, becoming the first leader to live there in nine years.
Kishida moved into the brick building, the primary site of a 1936 coup attempt by a group of Imperial Japanese Army officers, which is located about a minute's walk from the Prime Minister's Office.
The relocation cut his commuting time from the three minutes it takes by car from the apartment blocks in Tokyo's Akasaka area where Lower House members live, and where he has resided since before becoming prime minister in early October.