Sanae Takaichi Elected To Become Japan's First Female Prime Minister

Sanae Takaichi, 64, has been elected as the new leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), making her the first woman to hold the party's presidency and positioning her to become Japan's first female prime minister.

The 64-year-old defeated Shinjirō Koizumi in a runoff election, securing 185 votes to his 156, and is expected to be formally appointed prime minister by the Diet, as the LDP holds a majority in the lower house.

Takaichi is known for her hardline conservative and nationalist views, including opposition to same-sex marriage, separate surnames for married couples, and an empress regnant, and she supports revising Article 9 of Japan's Constitution to strengthen military capabilities.

“I’m abandoning the phrase ‘work–life balance.’ I will work, work, work, work, and go on working!” she declared in a speech.

Born on March 7, 1961, in Yamatokōriyama, Nara Prefecture, Takaichi is the daughter of a Toyota-affiliated automobile company employee and a police officer. She graduated from Nara Prefectural Unebi High School.

Despite qualifying for prestigious private universities like Keio and Waseda, Takaichi chose to attend Kobe University, where she studied business management, because her parents refused to fund her education if she moved out of home or attended a private institution. She commuted six hours daily to attend university and later studied at the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management.

To fund her education, Takaichi worked part-time jobs  In 1987, she was sponsored by the Matsushita Institute to spend a year in the United States as a congressional fellow for Democratic U.S. Representative Pat Schroeder, gaining experience in American politics. Upon returning to Japan, she became a legislative analyst and author, and later worked as a TV anchor for TV Asahi.

Takaichi was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1993 as an independent candidate. She joined the LDP in 1996 and has been re-elected nine times since.

A protégée of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Takaichi held several ministerial roles, including Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications and Minister of State for Economic Security. She is a staunch conservative and ultraconservative, affiliated with the ultranationalist group Nippon Kaigi, and has visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine multiple times.