Sanae Takaichi elected as Japan's first Female Prime Minister [Image by Azertag.az.]
(The Post News) – Sanae Takaichi was sworn in as Japan’s first woman prime minister on Tuesday following a dramatic political turnaround and coalition deal that took the country’s government further to the right. The 64-year-old right-wing politician is leading the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) at a time of economic straits, disillusioned voters, and geopolitical concern.
Takaichi won 237 seats in the 465-member lower house, taking the majority despite her party not having a coalition majority. Her win came after a last-minute deal with the nationalist Japan Innovation Party, or Ishin, after the LDP’s long-time coalition with the centrist Komeito party collapsed earlier this month.
A Conservative Shift with Nationalist Overtones
The Takaichi-JIP tie-up consolidates a more hardline course for the ruling coalition. Both are security hawks, constitutional revisionists, and tough national identity. The shift is away from the more centrist position the LDP held in the LDP-Komeito alliance.
“The LDP-JIP deal is proof of mutual determination to revitalize Japan,” JIP co-leader and Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said. “We’re committed to real reform.”
But the new government does not hold a majority in either chamber of parliament, and Takaichi will have to contend with minuscule opposition parties to pass bills. Political pundits believe this will make her ineffective and reduce her term.
Takaichi replaces Shigeru Ishiba, who resigned earlier on this Tuesday and his cabinet following the LDP’s landslide loss in July midterm elections. The party lost the election following anger over a slush fund scandal and out-of-control inflation. The LDP lost its 15-year majority in the lower house under Ishiba.
Takaichi must now confront public fury. Inflation continues to push food and energy prices higher, with rice, Japan’s dietary staple, doubling in price over the course of one year. In her initial policy statement later this week, she will outline economic stimulus packages and proposals to address the cost-of-living emergency.
LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki announced that the new administration would make relief from inflation its top priority and would work with other parties to achieve it. “We apologize for the delay in creating a stable government,” he told NHK. “The people want action, and we need to provide it.”
Markets, however, reacted positively. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.3%, nearing a record 50,000 mark, with investors hopeful that Takaichi’s government may revive stalled economic reforms, increase defence spending, and accelerate nuclear energy restarts.
To unite the fractured LDP, Takaichi assembled a cabinet that blended old guard members and past leadership contenders. She appointed Toshimitsu Motegi as foreign minister, Shinjiro Koizumi as defence minister, and Yoshimasa Hayashi as internal affairs minister. The appointments are meant to heal party divisions and offer competence.
She also made history with the appointment of Satsuki Katayama as the country’s first female finance minister. Katayama, another protégé of the late Shinzo Abe, brings credibility among fiscal conservatives and women’s rights skeptics.
They are joined by other female cabinet members, including Kimi Onoda as economic security minister and Midori Matsushima as the prime minister’s special adviser. The trio backed Takaichi during the LDP presidential election. Critics, however, point out that her vows to promote women in politics were not sufficient.
“She’s the first female PM, but her policies aren’t pro-structural gender equality,” argued Ayda Ogura, a 21-year-old Tokyo college student. “She is perpetuating the status quo, instead of attempting to change it.”
Foreign Policy Challenges
Takaichi starts amidst still-smouldering relations with China and South Korea. Her previous visits to Yasukuni Shrine, an icon of wartime nationalism, have caused stern condemnations from both countries. As a gesture of restraint, she decided to make a religious offering this year instead of visiting the shrine herself.
Her toughest diplomatic assignment begins next week when she hosts U.S. President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Tokyo ahead of the APEC summit. Although the U.S. and Japan have just reached a tariff agreement, Trump’s earlier demands that Japan increase its defence expenditure still loom over her.
Takaichi, nicknamed “Iron Lady,” an ardent supporter of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, would strengthen Japan’s military and rewrite the post-war pacifist constitution. Critics say that there may be an absence of diplomatic experience that could work against her in difficult negotiations at the top.
Takaichi is not from a political background. Born in Nara to a factory worker and policeman, she was a TV presenter who interned in the U.S. Congress before entering Japanese politics in 1993. She has now held nine parliaments and a string of cabinet roles, including economic security and internal affairs.
Although in history, her premiership to many is symbolic rather than transformative. Her resistance to same-sex marriage and unequal couples’ surnames is faulted by progressives. Still, those who support her hope she can stabilize the LDP and move forward with long-overdue reforms.
With a shaky coalition, growing public outrage, and regional pressures building, the Takaichi administration has a fight on its hands. Her tenure will hinge on providing swift economic relief, keeping politics stable, and rebuilding trust in a scandal-plagued party.
In the meantime, she bears the hopes of a nation still discovering itself in the 21st century, one that now, for the first time, has a woman as its leader.
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