Japan, a country with a longstanding problem of underrepresentation of women in power, has for the first time appointed a woman as prime minister — Sanae Takaichi, leader of the male-dominated and conservative Liberal Democratic Party.
A protégé of the late Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister who was assassinated in 2022, Takaichi is expected to push Japan further to the right. She is seen as a key voice of the country’s far-right populist wave, often likened to Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, and an admirer of Margaret Thatcher’s economic and political philosophy.
She is an amateur drummer, a devoted fan of Iron Maiden and Deep Purple, and politically considers Margaret Thatcher her “hero”.
Takaichi has voiced concern about Japan’s dependence on the United States, while also expressing her intention to work closely with Donald Trump. At the same time, she has taken a hardline stance toward China, adopted the slogan “Japan is back” (echoing Trump’s Make America Great Again), downplayed Japan’s wartime atrocities during World War II, and promised stricter controls on immigration and tourism.
Under Japan’s political system, the prime minister is formally appointed by the emperor after being elected by both chambers of the National Diet, whose members are directly chosen by the Japanese people.
Source: Τhe New York Times
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