She spent time as the Chairwoman of the Policy Research Council of the Liberal Democratic Party in her fourth term as a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).
When she served as an attorney for the families of the plaintiff concerning the hundred man killing contest, she tried to win her points relative to the convicted war criminals[clarify] in court.
[5] On 15 August 2005, after being "spotted ... when she addressed a ruling-party audience on Japan's war crimes in 2005",[6] Inada was nominated as an official candidate of the LDP by Shinzō Abe (later the Prime Minister).
Abe appointed her Chairperson of the LDP Policy Research Council in September 2014, even though the position is usually reserved for party members with longer political careers.
On 15 September 2016, one month after becoming Defense Minister, Inada met with American Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in Washington, D.C. After the meeting, Inada stated that the Japanese military would increase its activity in the South China Sea and increase the number of military drills with the United States, which represented a significant change in Japanese policy regarding the South China Sea dispute.
Both visits prompted protests from China and South Korea and created calls for Japan to express similarly prominent condolences to its Asian neighbors.
[10] On Monday, 1 May 2017, Inada ordered the dispatch of the Maritime Self-Defense Force Helicopter Carrier Izumo to protect a U.S Navy supply vessel in the Pacific.
[12] This remark was controversial for three reasons: first, it risked violating Article 15 of the Constitution; second, the Public Offices Election law also bans public servants from taking advantage of their position while campaigning in an election; and third, Article 61 of the Self-Defense Forces Law explicitly forbids personnel in the organization from engaging in political activity, with the exception of voting.
[12] Inada resigned in late July 2017 over claims that she helped to cover up internal records that exposed the danger Japanese peacekeepers faced in South Sudan.
The Ministry of Defense later discovered digital copies of the documents at the SDF's Joint Staff and made public parts of the records on 7 February 2017 based on a request under the Information Disclosure Law.
Fuji News Network then reported that it had obtained a two-page memo hand-written by an anonymous senior Defense Ministry official stating that Inada knew about the existence of the logs, yet decided to stick with her previous statement that they had been deleted.
[16] Further investigation into this scandal led to the revelation in January of 2024 that the fund management organization of Tomomi Inada, who at this time is serving as Secretary-General of the LDP, had failed to report a separate amount of 820,000 yen in 2021-2022.
In an interview with news outlet Yomiuri Shimbun, Inada said “I was not aware of the existence of the account … I deeply regret that there was a lack of attention in dealing with political funds”.
[6] Inada was shown smiling in a picture with Kazunari Yamada [ja], leader of the National Socialist Japanese Labor Party (NSJAP), who has praised Adolf Hitler and the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
A staff member of Sanae Takaichi, Minister of Internal Affairs, whom she was with at that moment, said that he "was an assistant for an interviewer", and "We had no idea who he was back then, but he requested a snapshot.
[34] Several members of the anti-Korean resident hate speech group Zaitokukai made donations to the political funding organization of Tomomi Inada between 2010 and 2012.
[35] After the assassination of Shinzo Abe in July 2022, Inada Tomomi faced criticism over her participation in events by front organizations of the Unification Church (Moon sect) in 2006, 2009, and 2010.