Hardliner conservative and heavy metal fan Sanae Takaichi set to become Japan’s first female leader

Sanae Takaichi celebrates in Tokyo after winning the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election on October 4.
By Jessie Yeung, Hanako Montgomery, CNN
(CNN) — A staunchly conservative politician with a penchant for heavy metal is poised to make history on Tuesday as Japan’s first female prime minister.
Sanae Takaichi’s expected accession to the role, just days ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to Asia, is a landmark moment for Japan – a historically patriarchal country with deep-rooted gender norms, where both politics and workplaces remain dominated by older men.
The road to the premiership was all but cleared for Takaichi on Monday night when her ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – which, despite its name, is conservative – formally joined forces with the opposition Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party).
She now needs to secure just two more votes in the lower house of parliament when Japan’s legislature votes on a new prime minster on Tuesday afternoon.
Takaichi was elected head of the LDP earlier in October, after a leadership race was triggered when Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced he would resign.
Her election as party leader – beating out more moderate candidates – suggests a rightward turn for the scandal-hit LDP, which suffered bruising losses in the last two parliamentary elections and is looking to win back voters who’d switched to new far-right parties.
They’ve picked a colorful character to take the helm. Photos of Takaichi’s younger days have circulated widely on social media, specifically her love for motorcycles – like the Kawasaki Z400GP she rode until becoming a lawmaker in 1993, when she gave it up – and her passion for heavy metal drumming, which she still indulges in at home when she’s stressed.
But she’s also deeply conservative, which has alarmed more centrist party members. For instance, she supports revising Japan’s pacifist constitution and often visits a controversial war shrine that includes the names of those convicted of war crimes during World War II. She also opposes a growing movement to allow married couples to use separate surnames.
Some of these stances – such as her hawkish views on China – could complicate Japan’s regional relationships. And within Japan, some worry about her economic proposals – to spend big and cut taxes – as the country struggles with sky-high inflation and living costs.
If she is elected prime minister on Tuesday, tackling the high price of goods will be one of her first challenges; for instance, the price of rice, a staple food in Japan, has almost doubled from last year.
There’s also the ever-present headache of Japan’s declining birthrate, shrinking workforce and swelling elderly population. There’s a growing public backlash against mass immigration. And then there is the Trump administration and its whiplash tariffs, which shook Asian economies earlier this year.
There’s also the immense challenge of winning back public trust, with the LDP experiencing its biggest crisis in decades and being stripped of its parliamentary majority under Ishiba, after a political slush fund scandal.
Simply being elected as the leader of the ruling party would usually have been enough to secure the premiership. But Takaichi’s path to power was complicated; already needing to find a new way to secure a majority, the LDP’s coalition partner of 26 years, Komeito, suddenly terminated its alliance with the party when she won the leadership race.
Her party’s new political ally, Nippon Ishin, shares some of her conservative values – like tougher immigration controls – and have secured a commitment to cut the number of lawmakers by 10% as part of its coalition deal. But Nippon Ishin have other desires too, like making Osaka, its hometown power base, Japan’s second capital city.
Takaichi’s party hopes she can be the answer to their recent unpopularity. But with a revolving door of prime ministers that has cycled through four leaders in the last five years, Japan’s so-called ‘Iron Lady’ will need to deliver results quickly to stay in power.
The-CNN-Wire
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