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In a recent discussion for the command of Japan's dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), hopefuls were encouraged to address in English. Sanae Takaichi delivered her remarks concise: “Japan is back,” she announced. However her triumph on Saturday furthermore signals the arrival of a new Japan: 80 years after the close of the global conflict, the land is ready to get its first female prime minister.

Triumph for Conservatives

The 64-year-old conservative, who has cited Margaret Thatcher in her mission to build a “powerful and thriving” Japan, beat her liberal challenger, Shinjiro Koizumi, in a final ballot at the LDP base in Tokyo.

Differing from many of her past leaders, Takaichi is certain of the prime minister’s job when parliament assembles on 15 October. The LDP and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, have surrendered control in the two assemblies of the Diet over the past year and will depend on opposition votes for Takaichi to be approved – although experts consider that is all but assured.

Her win is vindication for Takaichi, who last year lost against the departing prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba.

Her run for the top faltered this week after objections of her unsupported allegations, made during a discussion, that foreigners were harming “revered” deer in Nara, where she has been an MP since 1993.

Ideological Connections

Takaichi’s win signifies a victory for the hardline faction of the LDP, which has spent the previous year recovering under the more moderate Ishiba.

She has a strong political bond with the ex-leader Shinzo Abe, murdered in 2022, espousing his revisionist views on Japan’s wartime conduct – a position that could cause friction with Japan’s regional partners.

Takaichi has been skeptical about China and often travels to Yasukuni, a temple in Tokyo that commemorates Japan’s fallen soldiers, including condemned offenders. She has shown similarly conservative credentials on societal issues: she opposes same-sex marriage and allowing partners to use separate surnames – a step favored by voters that she says would undermine established norms. She is similarly dismissive of the concept of female monarchs.

Fiscal and Immigration Plans

Abe also looms large in her fiscal approach. Takaichi has said she favors substantial state investment to boost the world’s fourth-biggest economy, and has raised the possibility of renegotiating a commercial agreement with the US in which Donald Trump agreed to reduced duties on Japanese cars and additional goods in compensation for $550bn in Japanese investment.

Her emphasis on immigration – a theme that consumed the first eight minutes of a quarter-hour campaign speech – is seen as an effort to regain voters who abandoned the LDP in general votes last October and this July in preference for small conservative groups, including the up-and-coming Sanseito.

In her campaign Takaichi advocated limits on foreign buyers buying property and a strict enforcement on undocumented migration – a stance echoed by her other contenders.

Personal Interests and Background

A enthusiast of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team, Takaichi performed as a drummer in a musical ensemble while at university and counts scuba diving and viewing martial arts among her interests.