With a full agenda, including a planned visit by US President Donald Trump next week, Japan’s fifth premier in as many years will lead a minority administration. Takaichi, a supporter of Margaret Thatcher, was named prime minister by Parliament on Tuesday after she surprisingly earned a majority in a first-round vote. She will subsequently meet with the emperor and formally assume office. On October 4, the former drummer for heavy metal took over as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has ruled virtually continuously for decades but is falling in popularity. The Komeito party left the alliance six days later, feeling uneasy with Takaichi’s conservative stance and an LDP slush fund scandal.
As a result, Takaichi was compelled to sign an alliance on Monday night with the right-wing, reformist Japan Innovation Party (JIP). JIP intends to eliminate corporate and organizational donations, cut the number of MPs, and eliminate the food consumption tax rate. On Monday, Takaichi promised to “strengthen Japan’s economy and reshape Japan as a nation that can be responsible for future generations.” In Takaichi’s hometown of Nara, 76-year-old pensioner Toru Takahashi told AFP, “She’s a strong-minded person, regardless of being a woman.” She differs from Trump. However, she knows exactly what is right and wrong. Nordic Takaichi has pledged to have a cabinet with “Nordic” numbers of women, compared to the two that former Premier Shigeru Ishiba had.
According to local media, these might include the half-American Kimi Onoda as minister of economic security and the right-wing Satsuki Katayama as finance minister. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Gender Gap Report, Japan came in at number 118 out of 148. Women make up about 15% of lower house MPs, and men predominate in corporate boardrooms. Takaichi, 64, has been open about her personal menopausal experience and stated that she wants to increase awareness of women’s health issues. However, she wants the imperial dynasty to continue with male-only succession and is against changing a 19th-century legislation that required married spouses to have the same last name. Keiko Yoshida, a 39-year-old employee of the company in Nara, told AFP that she thinks Takaichi would “make Japan a more liveable place for women.”
Student Nina Terao, 18, concurred, saying, “I’d be happy if we saw more policies from a woman’s perspective: support for childcare and help for women returning to work after having children.” Abenomics Trump wants Japan to increase defense spending and halt Russian energy imports, but the specifics of a trade agreement between Washington and Tokyo are still up in the air. 73-year-old Satoshi Sakamoto, another Nara pensioner, told AFP, “I would like her to be a prime minister who can clearly say ‘No’ when needed.” Reversing Japan’s population decline and bringing some life to the stagnant economy are just two of Takaichi’s several difficulties, aside from Trump. The new coalition will require the backing of other parties in order to pass legislation because it is a minority in both houses of parliament.
Following in the footsteps of her mentor, former premier Shinzo Abe, Takaichi has previously supported dramatic monetary easing and increased government spending. Even though she backed off of these “Abenomics” demands during the LDP leadership race, her win sent Japanese equities skyrocketing. She has previously stated that Beijing poses a “security threat” to Tokyo and that “Japan is completely looked down upon by China.” She has recently softened her stance on China, though, and last week she did not attend a festival honoring Japan’s war dead at the Yasukuni shrine, where she has previously visited frequently. Following a series of unsatisfactory election outcomes that cost Ishiba his job, Takaichi will likewise face pressure to turn around the LDP.
The populist Sanseito, which refers to immigration as a “silent invasion,” is one of the smaller parties that is gaining momentum. Nara retiree Satoe Tominaga, 77, told AFP that she was “50-50” about Takaichi and that “prices have gone up, and it’s tough.” “To be honest, I now primarily shop at stores that sell 100 yen ($0.66).”
