{"id":320764,"date":"2025-10-21T08:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T08:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/320764\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T08:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T08:59:11","slug":"sanae-takaichi-elected-japans-first-female-prime-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/320764\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanae Takaichi elected Japan’s first female prime minister"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOKYO (AP) \u2014 Japan\u2019s parliament elected ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi<\/a> as the country\u2019s first female prime minister Tuesday, a day after her struggling party struck a coalition deal with a new partner expected to pull her governing bloc further to the right. <\/p>\n

Takaichi<\/a> replaces Shigeru Ishiba, ending a three-month political vacuum and wrangling since the Liberal Democratic Party\u2019s disastrous election loss in July.<\/p>\n

Ishiba, who lasted only one year as prime minister, resigned with his Cabinet earlier in the day, paving the way for his successor.<\/p>\n

Takaichi won 237 votes \u2014 four more than a majority \u2014 compared to 149 won by Yoshikoko Noda, head of the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, in the lower house, which elects the prime minister. As the results were announced, Takaichi stood up and bowed deeply.<\/p>\n

The LDP\u2019s alliance with the Osaka-based rightwing Japan Innovation Party, or Ishin no Kai, ensured her premiership because the opposition is not united. Takaichi\u2019s untested alliance is still short of a majority in both houses of parliament and will need to court other opposition groups to pass any legislation \u2014 a risk that could make her government unstable and short-lived.<\/p>\n

The two parties signed a coalition agreement on policies underscoring Takaichi\u2019s hawkish and nationalistic views.<\/p>\n

Their last-minute deal came after the Liberal Democrats lost its longtime partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito<\/a>, which has a more dovish and centrist stance. The breakup threatened a change of power for the LDP, which has governed Japan almost uninterrupted for decades.<\/p>\n

Tackling rising prices and other economic measures is the top priority for the Takaichi government, LDP Secretary General Shunichi Suzuki told NHK public television as he apologized over the delay because of the party\u2019s internal power struggle since the July election. He said the new coalition will cooperate with other opposition parties to quickly tackle rising prices to \u201clive up to the expectations of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in the day, Takaichi, 64, will present a Cabinet with a number of allies of LDP\u2019s most powerful kingmaker, Taro Aso, and others who backed her in the party leadership vote.<\/p>\n

JIP will not hold ministerial posts in Takaichi\u2019s Cabinet until his party is confident about its partnership with the LDP, Yoshimura said.<\/p>\n

Takaichi is running on deadline, as she prepares for a major policy speech later this week, talks with U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> and regional summits. She needs to quickly tackle rising prices and compile economy-boosting measures by late December to address public frustration.<\/p>\n

While she is the first woman serving as Japan\u2019s prime minister, she is in no rush to promote gender equality or diversity. <\/p>\n

Takaichi is among Japanese politicians who have stonewalled measures for women\u2019s advancement. Takaichi supports the imperial family\u2019s male-only succession<\/a> and opposes same-sex marriage<\/a> and allowing separate surnames<\/a> for married couples.<\/p>\n

A protege of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe<\/a>, Takaichi is expected to emulate his policies including a stronger military and economy, as well as revising Japan\u2019s pacifist constitution. With her potentially weak grip on power, it\u2019s unknown how much Takaichi will be able to achieve.<\/p>\n

Also an admirer of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Takaichi was first elected to parliament in 1993 and has served in a number of senior party and government posts, including as ministers of economic security and internal affairs, but her diplomatic background is thin.<\/p>\n

When Komeito left the governing coalition, it cited the LDP\u2019s lax response to slush fund scandals that led to their consecutive election defeats.<\/p>\n

The centrist party also raised concern about Takaichi\u2019s revisionist view of Japan\u2019s wartime past and her regular prayers at Yasukuni Shrine<\/a> despite protests from Beijing and Seoul that see the visits as lack of remorse about Japanese aggression, as well as her recent xenophobic remarks.<\/p>\n

Takaichi has toned down her hawkish rhetoric. On Friday, she sent a religious ornament instead of going to Yasukuni.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOKYO (AP) \u2014 Japan\u2019s parliament elected ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi as the country\u2019s first female prime minister Tuesday, a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":320765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[13214,1226,69,90,57,86,170,17787,62733,50,80,3645,145195,159819,333,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-320764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-asia-pacific","9":"tag-conservatism","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-elections","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-government-policy","14":"tag-japan","15":"tag-japan-government","16":"tag-margaret-thatcher","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-shigeru-ishiba","20":"tag-shinzo-abe","21":"tag-taro-aso","22":"tag-voting","23":"tag-world","24":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115411338208667761","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}