Meet Sanae Takaichi: Heavy metal fan, former biker chick and Japan’s PM-in-waiting
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Ms Sanae Takaichi is set to be named Japan’s PM when the Diet convenes for an extraordinary session, likely on Oct 15.
PHOTO: EPA
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TOKYO - Ms Sanae Takaichi, 64, is poised to become Japan’s first woman prime minister, following in the footsteps of her political role model – the late Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female leader.
Much like the “Iron Lady” who led Britain from 1979 to 1990 and died at 87 in 2013, Ms Takaichi is a staunch conservative.
On Oct 4, she emerged victorious among five contenders
She is set to be named Japan’s prime minister when the Diet convenes for an extraordinary session, likely on Oct 15.
During the hustings, she adopted a more moderate stance
Ms Takaichi’s mentor was the late former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who appointed her to prominent party and government positions during his two spells in office from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2020.
The 10-term lawmaker is a self-made politician, raised in a deeply conservative household in Nara prefecture by a factory worker father and a policewoman mother.
Her parents initially opposed her entry into politics and refused to fund her higher education if she moved out of home or attended private schools.
While she qualified for the elite private Keio and Waseda universities in Tokyo – her first-choice universities – she gave up on them and instead read business administration at the public Kobe University, commuting six hours to and from school.
She later enrolled at the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, which nurtures future political leaders.
To gain political experience, she went to the United States, where she worked as a congressional fellow in the office of Democrat Pat Schroeder from 1987 to 1989.
Upon returning to Japan, she worked as a television presenter and commentator before entering politics as an independent candidate in 1993, winning her first election.
She joined the LDP in 1995.
She has since represented a constituency in Nara, except from 2003 to 2005 when she lost her seat and became an economics lecturer at Kinki University.
She has a wealth of experience, having been appointed to roles such as minister-in-charge of Okinawa and northern territories affairs (2006-2007), minister for internal affairs and communications (2014-2017 and 2019-2020), and economic security minister (2022-2024).
She has also chaired the LDP’s policy research council for three terms.
Ms Takaichi is known for her regular visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines 14 convicted Class A war criminals alongside millions of war dead and is perceived as a potent symbol of Japan’s past militarism.
Her most recent visit was in August
While the Japanese imperial family has avoided the shrine since 1975 due to the site’s ties with war criminals, Ms Takaichi makes no bones about these visits and emphasises the need to pay due respect to those who have died for their country.
“We must carefully consider how to honour the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for the country and pray for peace,” she told a news conference on Oct 4.
She stressed that the visits “should not be allowed to become a diplomatic issue”, but declined to give a clear position on whether she would continue with the visits as prime minister.
Despite being a political hawk, she is a fiscal dove who favours tax credits and fiscal expansionism, having previously criticised the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hikes.
She is, meanwhile, against the idea of legally allowing married couples to keep separate surnames, arguing that this would destroy Japan’s traditional family values.
In 2004, she wed fellow LDP parliamentarian Taku Yamamoto, 73, who has two daughters and a son from a previous marriage.
He had popped the question after hearing a quip at a business luncheon that she was favourably considering marriage, and she said yes despite not having gone on a single date with him.
They split in 2017 over divergent political views, but remarried in 2021.
The couple bucked the national trend where females tend to adopt the male family name, and her husband, who is no longer in politics after losing in the 2021 elections, now legally goes by the Takaichi name.
In her youth, Ms Takaichi aspired to be a rock musician and was an avid drummer. She was also a biker chick who once sported pink hair and raced on two wheels, although she gave up her motorcycle when she entered politics.
Today, she continues to be a rock and heavy metal fan, with His Excellency Demon Kakka and X Japan among her favourite musicians.
