Hardline Sanae Takaichi named Japan’s first woman PM

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Japan got its first female prime minister on Tuesday after Sana Takeichi, a social conservative, called the 11th-hour unification agreement a sham.

Japan’s fifth prime minister in as many years will lead a minority government and have a full tray, barring a scheduled visit by US President Donald Trump next week.

Parliament appointed Takechi, an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, on Tuesday after he unexpectedly won a majority in the first round of voting.

She would later officially take over after meeting the emperor.

The former heavy metal drummer became head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on October 4, which has ruled almost non-stop for decades but is losing support.

Six days later, the Komeito Party, uneasy about Takeuchi’s conservative views and the LDP slush fund scandal, left its coalition.

This led Takeuchi to form a coalition with the reformist, right-leaning Japan Innovation Party (JIP), which was signed on Monday evening.

The JIP wants to reduce the consumption tax rate on food to zero, end corporate and organizational donations and reduce the number of MPs.

Takeichi pledged on Monday to “strengthen Japan’s economy and reshape Japan as a country that can be responsible for future generations”.

“She is a strong-minded person, even if she is a woman,” pensioner Toro Takahashi, 76, told AFP in Takachi’s hometown of Nara.

“He’s not like Trump. But he’s clear about what’s right and wrong.”

Nordic

Takeuchi has promised a cabinet with a “Nordic” level of women, with more than two under Prime Minister Shigeru Asiba.

Local media said they could include right-wing Satsuki Kitayama in charge of financial aid and Kimi Onoda, a step-American, as economic security minister.

Japan ranked 118 out of 148 in the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Gender Gap Report. About 15% of lower house MPs are women and corporate boardrooms are overwhelmingly male.

Takechi, 64, has said she hopes to raise awareness of women’s health struggles and speaks candidly about her experience with menopause.

But she opposes revising a 19th-century law requiring married couples to share the same surname, and wants the royal family to stick to male-only succession.

In Nara, company worker Keiko Yoshida, 39, told AFP she hoped Takeichi would “make Japan a more livable place for women”.

“If we look at more policies from a woman’s perspective: support for childcare, and support for women returning to work after children,” agreed 18-year-old student Nina Terao.

Abenomics

The details of a trade deal between Washington and Tokyo remain unresolved, and Trump also wants Japan to curb Russian energy imports and increase defense spending.

Another Nara pensioner, Satoshi Sakamoto, 73, told AFP, “I want her to be a prime minister who can say ‘no’ clearly when needed.”

Beyond Trump, Takeuchi’s many challenges include reversing Japan’s population decline and injecting some VIM into a flat-lining economy.

Being in the minority in both houses of parliament, the new coalition will need the help of other parties to push through legislation.

Takeuchi has in the past supported aggressive fiscal easing and expanded government spending, echoing his mentor, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Despite backtracking on those “Abenomics” calls in the LDP leadership contest, his victory has boosted Japanese stocks to record highs.

He previously said that “Japan has been completely let down by China”, and that Tokyo must “address the security threat” posed by Beijing.

But she has since scaled back her rhetoric on China, and last week stayed away from a festival at Yasukuni Shrine – she has previously been a regular visitor – honoring Japan’s war dead.

Takeuchi will also face pressure to revive the LDP’s fortunes after poor election results cost Asiba his job.

Smaller parties gaining support include the populist Sensito, which calls immigration a “silent attack.”

“Prices have gone up, and it’s difficult,” Nara pensioner Sato Tomenga, 77, told AFP, adding that he is “50-50” about Takechi.

“Honestly, I mostly shop at 100 yen ($0.66) stores.”