Who Is Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s First Female Prime Minister?

On Tuesday October 21, Sanae Takaichi became the first female prime minister of Japan after winning a parliamentary vote.

Public broadcaster NHK reports that Takaichi received 237 votes in the first round of voting, eliminating the necessity for a runoff vote in the Lower House, which has 465 seats.

Her triumph follows the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s alleged weekend agreement to form a coalition government with the Japan Innovation Party.

According to Reuters, Takaichi consented to support JIP programs like free high school education, a two-year halt to the food consumption tax, and a reduction in parliamentary seats.

According to domestic Japanese media, the JIP will assist the government from the outside and is not considering cabinet positions in the incoming administration.

According to Harris, it will be simpler for the JIP to leave the coalition if they do not agree with the LDP’s strategy.

The LDP lost both the upper and lower house majority during the Ishiba government due to significant electoral defeats.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan, which had gained 1.5% during the day, lost its gains, and the yields on the benchmark 10-year government bond fell 1.6 basis points to 1.654%. The value of the yen dropped 0.33% to 151.25.

Takaichi lost to Shigeru Ishiba in the 2024 LDP presidential election. After Ishiba resigned, she defeated Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi to become the party’s leader in September of this year.

However, the Komeito party quickly broke with the LDP on October 10, bringing an end to its alliance with the LDP, ending a relationship going back to 1999, putting Takaichi’s fate in a limbo.

A hardline conservative, Takaichi has been widely labeled as an apostle of “Abenomics,” the economic strategy of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which espoused loose monetary policy, fiscal spending and structural reforms.

However, BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda has stated that the central bank would determine interest rates “without any assumptions.” She has previously opposed the Bank of Japan’s proposal to hike interest rates during the 2024 LDP leadership campaign.

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In terms of geopolitics, Takaichi has advocated for a tough posture against China and supports amending Japan’s pacifist constitution.

China and South Korea, which view the location as a representation of Tokyo’s wartime aggressiveness, have criticized her prior visits to the contentious Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead, including convicted war criminals.

“Her views on China and Korea have also been very well flagged. But she also understands that she has to maintain very good relations with all these countries, especially also with the United States, just because all of them have a very big impact in terms of Japan’s biggest export destinations.”