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Japan’s ruling conservative party has elected Sanae Takaichi as its new leader, positioning the 64-year-old to be Japan’s first female prime minister. <\/p>\n
Takaichi is among the more conservative candidates leaning to the ruling party’s right. A former government minister, TV host and avid heavy metal drummer, she is one of the best known figures in Japanese politics – and a controversial one at that.<\/p>\n
She faces many challenges, including contending with a sluggish economy and households struggling with relentless inflation and stagnant wages. <\/p>\n
She will also have to navigate a rocky US-Japan relationship and see through a tariff deal with the Trump administration agreed by the previous government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
If confirmed as prime minister, one of Takaichi’s key challenges will be uniting the party after a turbulent few years which saw it rocked by scandals and internal conflicts. <\/p>\n
Last month, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, whose term lasted just over a year, announced he would step down after a series of election defeats that saw the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) governing coalition lose its majority in both chambers of parliament.<\/p>\n
Prof Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo, told the BBC that Takaichi was unlikely to have “much success at healing the internal party rift”.<\/p>\n
Takaichi belongs to the “hardline” faction of the LDP, which believed that “the reason the LDP support has imploded is because it lost touch with its right-wing DNA”, he added.<\/p>\n
“I think she’s in a good position to regain the right wing voters, but at the expense of wider popular appeal, if they go into a national election.”<\/p>\n
Takaichi has been a long-time admirer of Britain’s first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. She is now ever closer to fulfilling her Iron Lady ambition. <\/p>\n
But many women voters don’t see her as an advocate for progress. <\/p>\n
“She calls herself Japan’s Margaret Thatcher. In terms of fiscal discipline, she’s anything but Thatcher,” Prof Kingston said.<\/p>\n
“But like Thatcher she’s not much of a healer. I don’t think she’s done much to empower women.”<\/p>\n
Takaichi is a staunch conservative who’s long opposed legislation allowing women to keep their maiden names after marriage, saying it is against tradition. She is also against same sex marriage. <\/p>\n
A prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of the late former leader Shinzo Abe, Takaichi has vowed to bring back his economic vision, known as Abenomics \u2013 which involves high fiscal spending and cheap borrowing. <\/p>\n
The LDP veteran is hawkish on security and aims to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution. <\/p>\n
She’s also a regular visitor of the controversial Yasukuni shrine where Japan’s war dead including some convicted war criminals are memorialised.<\/p>\n
She will likely be confirmed by parliament, although not automatically like her predecessors because the ruling party is in a much weaker position now having lost its majority in both houses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n