Japan gets its first woman PM

ri is poised to anoint the country’s first woman prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, even as the world’s fourth-largest economy contends with an ageing population and a rise in populist and ultranationalist forces.

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The conservative hardliner of more than three decades standing on Saturday narrowly defeated the minister of agriculture and a political scion in the ruling centre-right Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)s presidential race. Takaichi’s confirmation in her historic new role as premier is expected to be a smooth sail when the Diet (parliament) convenes on the 15th of this month. Her LDP commands the largest bloc of seats in both houses of parliament, albeit without a majority in either, and could benefit from a fragmented and divided opposition. A onetime TV anchor, who recently told an audience that her goal was to become the “Iron Lady”—in reference to the British former premier Margaret Thatcher—the veteran Takaichis mettle will be tested early on multiple fronts. Foremost, Japan has been dogged by political ins