Can Takaichi save Japan?

As we foreshadowed last month, Japan's beleaguered Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) just elected Sanae Takaichi (64) as its leader, meaning she'll now become Japan's next (and first female) prime minister when the legislature meets on October 15.

It’s a tough gig, so we’ve channelled our love for Japanese pop culture with a quick Takaichi character profile, starting with the obligatory...

• 🕰️ Flashback

Unlike most recent PMs, Takaichi hails not from a political dynasty, but from an auto industry dad and a police officer mother. So right through her business degree in Kobe, there wasn't much to hint at any world leader in the making, until...

• 🎽 Training montage

A prestigious fellowship with Colorado’s first congresswoman whetted her appetite for politics, and her early years as a TV host back home shaped her media savvy, helping her win a seat in Japan's parliament just as its economic bubble was bursting in 1993.

But it's hard for an obscure independent to get much done among the Diet's ~700 lawmakers, so Takaichi joined the ruling party and got herself a...

• 🧓 Mentor

She and Shinzo Abe were conservative kindred spirits and, as a top backer then minister in his cabinet, she shaped and endorsed Abe’s signature 'Abenomics' stimulus aimed at reflating and reforming Japan's economy (she's vowing more of that).

Takaichi was also a classic Abe protégé when it came to...

• ㊙️ The secret weapon

A classic hawk on China, she wants to finish what Abe started, including to revise Japan's pacifist constitution, rebuild its armed forces, and reassert Japanese strength against China's claims not only over the Senkaku Islands, but even Taiwan. That’ll also force her into a…

• ⛩️ Great trial

Days after Takaichi takes power, Japan's Yasukuni Shrine festival kicks off, and the world will be watching whether she turns up. The shrine houses the spirits of Japan's war dead (including war criminals), so her base will want her there again, but that’ll not only rattle rivals like China, but also fellow US allies like Korea and the Philippines. Meanwhile…

• 🗺️ Side quest

We're also obliged to mention Takaichi once drummed in a heavy metal band, named fellow social conservative Margaret Thatcher as her role model, and was overjoyed when Toyota restored her beloved 1991 Supra to its original condition (it's now in a museum).

Anyway, maybe that all accumulated the experience points necessary for her...

• 🙏 Redemptive arc

Takaichi ran for the top job twice before, but kept bumping up against factions preferring to play it safe. Now in 2025, however, Japan’s ruling LDP is not only ready for, but feels it actively needs Takaichi’s firebrand politics: she's moderated a bit, but her colleagues are hoping she can stem the exodus of conservative voters without irking her moderates.

And that’s how Sanae Takaichi pulled off the ultimate level-up in Japanese politics.