Who’s Japan’s ‘Iron Woman’ Sanae Takaichi?

[ad_1] <img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/db18/live/84f276c0-a19f-11f0-8c5b-4b0466d40f1f.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/db18/live/84f276c0-a19f-11f0-8c5b-4b0466d40f1f.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/db18/live/84f276c0-a19f-11f0-8c5b-4b0466d40f1f.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/db18/live/84f276c0-a19f-11f0-8c5b-4b0466d40f1f.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/db18/live/84f276c0-a19f-11f0-8c5b-4b0466d40f1f.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/db18/live/84f276c0-a19f-11f0-8c5b-4b0466d40f1f.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/db18/live/84f276c0-a19f-11f0-8c5b-4b0466d40f1f.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/db18/live/84f276c0-a19f-11f0-8c5b-4b0466d40f1f.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images Newly-elected Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader Sanae Takaichi receives an applause after winning the LDP leadership election on October 4, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan" class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Getty Photographs Revered determine: Baroness Margaret Thatcher. Private aim: To change into Japan's Iron Woman.

It was solely after two failed makes an attempt that, on Saturday, Sanae Takaichi lastly achieved her long-held ambition.

The 64-year-old was elected chief of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Get together (LDP) on its seventieth anniversary - placing her on track to change into the nation's first feminine prime minister.

A former authorities minister and TV host, and as soon as a drummer in a heavy steel band, she's going to now face the problem of main not solely a celebration struggling to regain voter belief after scandals and battling with the far proper - however a rustic dealing with low delivery charges and rising geopolitical tensions.

Born in Nara Prefecture in 1961, Takaishi's father was an workplace employee and her mom a police officer. Politics was far faraway from her upbringing.

As soon as an avid heavy steel drummer, she was well-known for carrying many sticks as a result of she would break them throughout intense drumming. She was additionally a scuba diver and a automotive fanatic - her beloved Toyota Supra is now displayed in a Nara museum.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/e5ac/live/864d4c40-a125-11f0-909f-795e864c8891.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/e5ac/live/864d4c40-a125-11f0-909f-795e864c8891.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e5ac/live/864d4c40-a125-11f0-909f-795e864c8891.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/e5ac/live/864d4c40-a125-11f0-909f-795e864c8891.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/e5ac/live/864d4c40-a125-11f0-909f-795e864c8891.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/e5ac/live/864d4c40-a125-11f0-909f-795e864c8891.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/e5ac/live/864d4c40-a125-11f0-909f-795e864c8891.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e5ac/live/864d4c40-a125-11f0-909f-795e864c8891.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Sanae Takaichi poses for a photo in the party leader's office after the LDP presidential election." class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Getty Photographs Earlier than getting into politics, Takaichi labored briefly as a tv host.

Her political inspiration got here within the Eighties, throughout the top of US-Japan commerce friction. Decided to know American perceptions of Japan, she labored within the workplace of Democrat Patricia Schroeder, a congresswoman identified for her criticism of Japan.

Takaichi noticed People mixing up Japanese, Chinese language and Korean language and delicacies, observing how Japan was typically grouped along with China and South Korea.

"Except Japan can defend itself, its destiny will at all times be on the mercy of shallow US opinion," she concluded.

She ran in her first parliamentary election in 1992 as an unbiased however misplaced.

She endured, successful a seat a yr later and becoming a member of the LDP in 1996. Since then, she has been elected as an MP 10 instances, shedding solely as soon as, and constructed a status as one of many occasion's most outspoken conservative voices.

She has additionally held senior authorities roles, together with minister for financial safety, state minister for commerce and business, and a record-breaking tenure as minister for inside affairs and communications.

In 2021, Takaichi first entered the LDP management race however misplaced to Fumio Kishida. She tried once more in 2024, this time topping the primary spherical of voting however in the end shedding to Shigeru Ishiba.

This yr, on her third try, she secured victory - setting her on track to change into Japan's first feminine prime minister as soon as parliament confirms her appointment.

"My aim is to change into the Iron Woman," she instructed a gaggle of college kids throughout her latest marketing campaign.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/2207/live/6df1ee10-a12c-11f0-bf43-398ff6349d9d.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/2207/live/6df1ee10-a12c-11f0-bf43-398ff6349d9d.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/2207/live/6df1ee10-a12c-11f0-bf43-398ff6349d9d.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/2207/live/6df1ee10-a12c-11f0-bf43-398ff6349d9d.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/2207/live/6df1ee10-a12c-11f0-bf43-398ff6349d9d.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/2207/live/6df1ee10-a12c-11f0-bf43-398ff6349d9d.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/2207/live/6df1ee10-a12c-11f0-bf43-398ff6349d9d.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/2207/live/6df1ee10-a12c-11f0-bf43-398ff6349d9d.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Bloomberg via Getty Images Shinzo Abe poses for a group photograph with members of his new cabinet at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo" class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Bloomberg by way of Getty Photographs Sanae Takaichi (first row proper) was named the interior affairs and communications minister in 2014 by the late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe

Takaichi is a staunch conservative who has lengthy opposed laws permitting married girls to maintain their maiden names, insisting it undermines custom. She can be in opposition to identical intercourse marriage.

Nonetheless, she has not too long ago softened her tone. Throughout her marketing campaign she vowed to make babysitter charges partially tax-deductible and proposed company tax breaks for firms that present in-house childcare providers.

Her household and private experiences underpin her coverage proposals: increasing hospital providers for girls's well being, giving family help employees larger recognition, and enhancing care choices for Japan's ageing society.

"I've personally skilled nursing and caregiving 3 times in my life," she stated.

"That is why my willpower has solely grown stronger to cut back the variety of folks pressured to depart their jobs because of caregiving, child-rearing or kids refusing to attend faculty.

"I need to create a society the place folks do not have to surrender their careers."

A protégé of the late Shinzo Abe, she pledged to revive his "Abenomics" financial imaginative and prescient of excessive public spending and low-cost borrowing.

She has been a daily customer to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honours Japan's warfare useless together with convicted warfare criminals.

She has additionally known as for alleviating constitutional restrictions on the nation's Self-Defence Forces, that are forbidden from having offensive capabilities.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/df47/live/b3ac13f0-a12b-11f0-a9f1-8d9167fcc08f.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/df47/live/b3ac13f0-a12b-11f0-a9f1-8d9167fcc08f.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/df47/live/b3ac13f0-a12b-11f0-a9f1-8d9167fcc08f.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/df47/live/b3ac13f0-a12b-11f0-a9f1-8d9167fcc08f.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/df47/live/b3ac13f0-a12b-11f0-a9f1-8d9167fcc08f.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/df47/live/b3ac13f0-a12b-11f0-a9f1-8d9167fcc08f.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/df47/live/b3ac13f0-a12b-11f0-a9f1-8d9167fcc08f.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/df47/live/b3ac13f0-a12b-11f0-a9f1-8d9167fcc08f.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images A group of politicians visiting Yasukuni Shrine" class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Getty Photographs Sanae Takaichi (third L) and different Japanese MPs go to Yasukuni Shrine on 15 August 2014

Since its basis in 1955, LDP has dominated Japanese politics, however it's now shedding floor amid frustration with a sluggish economic system, demographic decline and social discontent.

Takaichi belongs to the right-wing facet of the LDP, and in electing her the LDP is hoping to win again conservative voters who've gravitated in the direction of the far-right Sanseito occasion.

Sanseito, operating on a "Japanese First" slogan, has not too long ago surged from one to fifteen seats, drawing away conservative voters. The LDP has misplaced its majority in each homes of parliament.

Takaichi herself acknowledged the issue in a speech after successful the primary spherical of voting: "We've acquired notably harsh criticism from our core supporters, conservatives, and occasion members."

"The LDP should change for the sake of Japan's current and future. We are going to at all times put the nationwide curiosity first and handle the nation with a way of steadiness."