Copyright Bloomberg

Sanae Takaichi has just been confirmed as Japan’s first female prime minister. But more important than her gender might be her taste for head-banging — in music and politics. In what has been a rock-and-roller-coaster two weeks, she unexpectedly emerged as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, swiftly followed by her coalition partner abandoning their longtime alliance. What came next was a flurry of speculation that she might join the very short list of party leaders who never became prime minister. But on Tuesday, she made history after a frantic realignment of governing parties.