Sanae Takaichi, who is likely to become Japan’s first female prime minister, is a conservative politician who has hailed former U.K. premier Margaret Thatcher and once worked in the U.S. Congress.
On Saturday, Takaichi was elected leader of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) following a runoff vote.
Why It Matters
If confirmed by parliament, Takaichi will become Japan’s fifth prime minister in five years and the first woman to hold the office in the country’s history. Her policies have included a tough stance on immigration, and as the head of government, she would have to navigate domestic and economic pressures, a trade deal with the Trump administration, and a host of geopolitical issues in the wider region.
What To Know
The race for leadership of the LDP began after the resignation of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, whose election last year had angered the right of the party.
On Saturday, Takaichi beat her moderate rival, Shinjiro Koizumi, in a runoff election at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo, with 185 votes to 156. The LDP-led coalition no longer holds a majority of seats in parliament, but Takaichi is expected to be approved as prime minister when members of parliament vote later this month.
Born in Nara in 1961, Takaichi studied business management at Kobe University and briefly worked in the U.S. Congress as a fellow. In 1993, she was elected to Japan’s lower house of parliament as an independent. Joining the LDP in 1996, she has held ministerial portfolios, including internal affairs and communications, economic security, and gender equality.
She also maintains a less formal image than that of her political colleagues. As a student, she was a motorbike enthusiast, and she played drums in a heavy metal band.
Takaichi also holds hard-line conservative views and has cited Thatcher as an inspiration, according to Reuters.
She supports the strategy of the late premier Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” of aggressive spending and easy monetary policy, and she has criticized the Bank of Japan’s interest rate increases.
Reuters reported that her premiership could spook investors in Japanese bonds who were worried about one of the world’s largest debt loads.
After losing the LDP leadership contest to Ishiba in 2023, Takaichi campaigned two years later on economic recovery, stricter immigration control and national security.
On trade, she has raised concerns about a U.S.-Japan investment deal reached under the Trump administration that reduced tariffs, and she has pledged to push for renegotiation if the agreement is seen as unfair to Japan.
Takaichi is socially conservative, opposing legal recognition of same-sex marriage and supporting the party’s policy on traditional family structures and women’s roles as wives and mothers.
However, she has pledged to improve gender representation in government and seeks to raise women’s participation in leadership.
What People Are Saying
Sanae Takaichi said in a speech before the runoff vote, according to Reuters: “I have heard harsh voices from across the country saying we don’t know what the LDP stands for anymore. That sense of urgency drove me. I wanted to turn people’s anxieties about their daily lives and the future into hope.”
What Happens Next
A vote in Japan’s parliament to replace Ishiba is expected on October 15. As the ruling coalition Takaichi now leads has the largest number of seats, though not a majority, she is favored to take over.