As soon as the international press got past the historic news Saturday that Japan had just chosen its first-ever female prime minister, Japan-watchers began to ask just what kind of leader Sanae Takaichi would be — especially in dealings with U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jingping.
In her third bid for the presidency of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party — election to which is tantamount to becoming prime minister — Takaichi, 64, won the runoff among LDP Members of Parliament by a narrow vote of 184 to 156.
Like Ronald Reagan after narrowly losing the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, Takaichi began courting the right-of-center grassroots members of her party following her loss of the LDP presidency to current Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. When Ishiba announced he was stepping down earlier this year, the politician known as “the Lady of Steel” emerged as the favorite to succeed him.
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