Japan braces for shift to Right under ‘Iron Lady’ fan Takaichi

Sanae Takaichi, the pro-stimulus conservative poised to become Japan's first female prime minister, is an energetic nationalist with a soft spot for the hard-nosed politics of Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher and the heavy metal music of Iron Maiden.

- SAKURA MURAKAMI

In choosing the former economic security minister as its leader, the Liberal Democratic Party is essentially betting on a swing back to the right to attract the younger voters who have flocked to smaller populist outfits, including the arch-conservative Sanseito party.

Takaichi is expected to become premier later this month in a parliamentary vote. In becoming the LDP’s chief, Takaichi has already smashed a glass ceiling in a nation that has only seen male ruling party leaders. But like Thatcher, the former UK prime minister whom she cites as an inspiration, her conservative views place her a long way from the stance of progressive feminism.