Japan's Iron Lady will woo Trump with tough stance on immigrants

Sanae Takaichi, a hardline Thatcher fan, sets her sights on being the country's first female prime minister

- Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

The long list of countries that have had female prime ministers and presidents includes many of Japan's neighbours - South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Burma, Bangladesh.

That Japan, a country which began industrialising 150 years ago, is set to get its first female prime minister is not the great blow for equality it might seem. Like her great political idol, Margaret Thatcher, Sanae Takaichi, isn’t exactly a standard bearer for feminism.

"I will abandon any notion of work-life balance," Takaichi, 64, promised as she accepted the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last weekend. “I will work and I will work and I will work.”

“Her special gift, people say, is doing without sleep,” says Tomohiko Taniguchi, a close political ally and confidant of Takaichi. Again, echoes of Thatcher, who was reputed to need just four hours of sleep a night.

A young Takaichi is reported to have met her political idol in the 1990s when Thatcher visited Japan. “The encounter seems to have left a lasting impression,” says Taniguchi. “Whenever she embarks on a policy sure to make half the country her adversary, she will surely hear Thatcher’s words resounding in her ears - the lady is not for turning.”

She is going to need all her tenacity and determination if she is to make it to the prime minister's office.