Japan is poised to elect its first woman as Prime Minister, but it is Sanae Takaichi's policy positions, not her sex, that make her a remarkable choice. She is in some ways Japan's Donald Trump, a Japanese nationalist, an illegal immigration hard-liner, and a staunch advocate for Japanese culture - a culture, we might note, that goes back thousands of years.
President Trump was among the first to offer his congratulations.
🇺🇸 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/vRcGdDl6zm
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 6, 2025
The usual suspects, including the UK Independent, were quick to describe the new Prime Minister as a "hard-liner."
Hardline nationalist leader Sanae Takaichi has won the leadership election for Japan’s ruling party, paving the way for her to become the country’s first woman prime minister.
Ms Takaichi, 64, will succeed prime minister Shigeru Ishiba, as their Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) party remains the largest in parliament. But with recent elections seeing the LDP-led coalition losing its majority in both chambers of parliament, she will need support from opposition parties to govern smoothly.
Ms Takaichi, who has repeatedly referred to Margaret Thatcher as a source of inspiration, is a hardline conservative and close ally of late prime minister, Shinzo Abe. Over the weekend, she vowed to "work, work, work" to turn "people's anxieties about their daily lives and the future into hope".
She has also made it very plain who she aims to emulate as Prime Minister:
A former economic security and interior minister, Ms Takaichi has repeatedly referred to the late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher as her political hero, citing her strong character and convictions coupled with her “womanly warmth”. She said she met “the Iron Lady” at a symposium shortly before Thatcher’s death in 2013.
"My goal is to become the Iron Lady," she told a group of children during the campaign.
That's a good goal to have, and we would hope for a Pacific basin version of the US/UK "Special Relationship," fostered in large part by Margaret Thatcher and President Reagan. Could a similar partnership spring up here, between Sanae Takaichi and President Trump?
We should note that Ms. Takaichi's party, the "Liberal Democrats," is not what a party by that name would be here in the United States. The LDP is to the left of American Republicans, but they aren't the far-left nutcases who may where such a label here.
Read More: No, Washington Isn’t Abandoning Taiwan
Japan Needs More Than New Leadership - They Need Renewed National Vitality
Also, take a look at how Japan handles parliamentary elections. Note the security measures, even in this high-trust society.
I have, for years, been very fond of Japan. I've stayed and worked in Japan several times, sometimes for months at a time. In my first extended stay, in the Kansai region, I fell in love with Japan, with the people, the culture, the food, and the beautiful countryside. But Japan faces serious problems, not the least of which is a demographic crisis. Young Japanese people just aren't marrying and having babies at anything like the replacement rate, and that's troubling. It's not at all clear what a new government can do to address this. But under a PM Takaichi, we may well see Japan moving back to the manufacturing and military powerhouse it once was, and with things in the Pacific, between the USA, Japan, Australia, and Taiwan on one side and China and Russia on the other, it will be good for the USA to have a strong ally in Japan.
To Prime Minister Takaichi, we can only say ganbaru, good luck, and may the Land of the Rising Sun see that sun rise once more.
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