Charming Donald Trump one week, angering China the next, Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has had a busy start and is riding high in the polls, all on a few hours of sleep a night.<\/p>\n
But the honeymoon may end soon for the Margaret Thatcher-admiring premier, if the current spat with China escalates further and she fails to keep inflation in check.<\/p>\n
“I believe Prime Minister Takaichi will surely do what she needs to do, so I trust her,” Kozue Otsuka, 50, told AFP at a festival this week for business-owners seeking good fortune.<\/p>\n
But buying a lucky “kumade” rake featuring a smiling goddess of mirth, the housewife added: “I hope that Japan\u2013China relations will gradually move in a better direction.”<\/p>\n
“What I am worried about, most of all, is the (prime) minister’s remarks. China got really agitated because of that,” echoed Shigeru Fujita, 78, who runs a gardening company.<\/p>\n
– Hole in one –<\/p>\n
Takaichi has admitted only sleeping two to four hours a night.<\/p>\n
Trump arrived a week into her term and Takaichi won plaudits for pulling out all the stops to pacify the US president.<\/p>\n
“I was very impressed and inspired by you,” Takaichi gushed, gifting him a golf club used by slain ex-premier Shinzo Abe, a common friend.<\/p>\n
Trump said Takaichi would become “one of the greatest prime ministers”.<\/p>\n
– Taiwan –<\/p>\n
Days before Takaichi was at an ASEAN summit in Malaysia, and then at an APEC gathering in South Korea where she met Chinese President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n
All seemed cordial, but Takaichi — long seen as a China hawk — kicked up a hornet’s nest a week later.<\/p>\n
She told parliament — apparently in unplanned remarks — that a Taiwan “emergency” could threaten Japan’s existence, implying that Japan would intervene militarily.<\/p>\n
With one diplomat threatening to sever Takaichi’s “dirty neck”, a livid Chinese government advised citizens to avoid Japan.<\/p>\n
With big-spending Chinese tourists the biggest cohort, this was a blow. China then also reportedly reimposed a ban on Japanese seafood imports.<\/p>\n
Margarita Estevez-Abe, an analyst at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, said China still holds “so many economic cards to punish Japan, but Japan has none”.<\/p>\n
These could include China restricting exports of rare earths to Japan or curbs on Japanese exports to China.<\/p>\n
Takaichi’s appointment “was a very risky choice for the China-Japan relationship at a very delicate economic moment for Japan,” Estevez-Abe told AFP.<\/p>\n
“Starting a fight against someone stronger with no prior planning is no leadership,” she said.<\/p>\n
– Stimulus –<\/p>\n
Takaichi last week unveiled an economic stimulus package worth $135 billion, including cash handouts to parents and energy subsidies.<\/p>\n
She hopes to avoid the fate of her predecessor Shigeru Ishiba, who suffered a string of election debacles in part because of anger over rising prices.<\/p>\n
Despite the creation of a DOGE-style cost-cutting initiative and promises of a “responsible” fiscal policy, concerns abound that the stimulus will add to Japan’s colossal debt.<\/p>\n
This has contributed to a slide in the yen — which will increase Japan’s hefty import bill and push up inflation.<\/p>\n
“Ordinary people are having it tough these days,” financial services employee Kazuo Kaitsuka, 75, told AFP.<\/p>\n
“I worry future generations might have to deal with the consequences (of the debt),” he said.<\/p>\n
– Viral handbag –<\/p>\n
One Yomiuri survey this week gave Takaichi’s cabinet an approval rating of 72 percent.<\/p>\n
Even her handbag has gone viral with its 145-year-old Japanese leather goods maker flooded with orders, reports said.<\/p>\n
Takaichi’s popularity has raised speculation that she might even call snap elections.<\/p>\n
But analyst Tobias Harris at Japan Foresight told AFP that he wonders how “durable” her ratings are.<\/p>\n
A key factor could be how successful Takaichi is in halting a rise in backing for the populist anti-immigration Sanseito party.<\/p>\n
“(Her) strong support has not necessarily translated into stronger support for the LDP itself,” Harris said, referring to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
“My sense has been that in the near term the tensions with China have helped her — or haven’t hurt — but I feel like there are signs that some in the LDP are wondering that if it drags on, it could weigh on her,” Harris said.<\/p>\n
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