Japan Welcomes Its First Woman Prime Minister

When Sanae Takaichi strode onto the stage of the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership contest in October 2025, she carried with her a blend of conviction, controversy and a long political resume that has quietly reshaped Tokyo's conservative core.

- 

Her victory in the party vote and the appointments she has since made within the LDP - mean that Japan is on the cusp of an historic first: a female prime minister in a country that has never had one. The moment is being read as both symbolic a crack in Japan's glass ceiling and substantive, a potential pivot in policy at a time of economic strain and regional tension.

A veteran of decades in parliament, Takaichi’s path to the top is the product of persistence. First elected in the 1990s, she rose through party ranks to hold senior ministerial posts in cabinets led by Shinzo Abe and others. Her profile is shaped by two strands that have defined her public image: an economic-nationalist agenda that promises aggressive stimulus for growth industries, and a socially conservative worldview that sometimes courts controversy. For observers, she is at once a bridge to Abe-era policies and a harder-edged nationalist voice within the LDP.

Economically, Takaichi has pitched what supporters call a revitalised “Sanae-nomics” a willingness to deploy both loose monetary posture and bold fiscal spending to jump-start growth and technological competitiveness. She has argued for large-scale “crisis-management” investments into semiconductors, AI, energy technology, and defence, even at the cost of taking on more public debt. That posture delighted financial markets expecting stimulus: Japanese equity indices rallied and the yen weakened as traders priced in more accommodative policy after her win. Yet bond markets and fiscal hawks have voiced unease about potential long-term debt consequences.