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Sanae Takaichia star of ultraconservatism Japani A rare woman who has risen through the ranks of politics and its male-dominated hierarchy has been elected the country’s first female Prime Minister.
Takaichi, 64, is also the first woman to lead the Liberal Democratic Party, which has dominated Japan’s post-war politics almost uninterrupted.
she admires ex British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and proponent of former Prime Minister shinzo abeConservative approach to Japan. A China hawk, she is a regular at the Yasukuni Shrine, viewed by China, the two Koreas and other Asian victims of Japan’s World War II aggression as a place that glorifies the country’s wartime past.
Takachi, the leader of a country with a poor ranking internationally for gender equality, rarely mentioned the issue during the campaign. After winning the presidency of the ruling party, she commented: “Now that the LDP has got its first woman president, its landscape will change a bit.”
First elected to Parliament from her hometown of Nara in 1993, she has held key party and government positions, including Minister of Economic Security, Internal Affairs and Gender Equality, although she has little diplomatic experience.
He has called for a stronger military, more fiscal spending for development, promotion of nuclear fusion, cyber security and stricter policies on immigration.
Takaichi is a well-known hard worker
As a student, Takachi was a drummer in a heavy-metal band and rode motorcycles.
She says that she is busy with work and prefers to work at home rather than go out and socialize. But after two failed attempts to lead the LDP, she says she has made efforts to build more relationships with colleagues.
He asked all party MLAs to “work like horses”.
“I would abandon the term ‘work-life balance’.” I will work, work, work and work” – she said in comments that drew mixed reactions online.
Struggling for identity in a male dominated party
Women MPs in the LDP are often overlooked for ministerial posts, or sidelined if they speak out about diversity and gender equality. In Japan’s Lower House, the most powerful of the two parliamentary houses, women hold only 15% of the seats. Of Japan’s 47 prefectural governors, only two are women.
Takachi has avoided talking about gender issues in the past and has stuck to old-fashioned views espoused by male party stalwarts.
She has vowed to significantly increase the number of women in her government, but she supports only male succession to the royal family, and opposes same-sex marriage and amending a 19th-century law that requires married couples to keep the same surname.
Chiako Sato, political commentator and senior writer for the Mainichi newspaper, said, “Ms. Takachi’s policies are extremely aggressive, and I doubt she will consider policies that recognize diversity.”
Takachi has supported financial support for women’s health and fertility treatments as part of the LDP policy of supporting women in their traditional roles of being good mothers and wives. But she also acknowledged her struggle with menopause symptoms and stressed the need to educate men about women’s health to help women in school and work.
Prime Minister’s far-right views on history and security
Takachi is expected to move the government to the right, especially after forming a coalition with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party, or Ishin no Kai. Previous partner, the Buddhist-backed liberal Komeito, left the alliance in protest of Takachi’s ultraconservative views.
He has resisted acknowledging Japanese wartime aggression and atrocities and denied that coercion was used against Korean laborers and women held as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers. She was part of a campaign to remove references to wartime sexual slavery from school textbooks.
Analysts say his revisionist views could complicate relations with Beijing and Seoul. Last week, apparently to avoid tension, Takachi sent a religious ornament to mark Yasukuni’s Autumn Festival rather than visiting the temple in person.