Hello r/Japan. It’s Dave again from the audience engagement team at Nikkei Asia.
I’m sharing a free portion of the article above for anyone interested.The excerpt starts below.
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TOKYO — Sanae Takaichi, former economic security minister, was elected leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Saturday and is likely to become the first female prime minister within two weeks, succeeding the outgoing Shigeru Ishiba.
She defeated Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi in a run-off that was held after none of the five candidates was able to secure a majority in the first round of voting.
She is also the first female president in the LDP’s 70-year history. The arch-conservative was close to the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, another right-wing LDP leader. She has publicly stated that she sees former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as her role model.
Voting by LDP lawmakers started at 1 p.m. at the party headquarters in Tokyo.
by NikkeiAsia
32 comments
I’m pissed off Abe’s strong ally who’s against homosexual marriage, opposes female Empresses, takes photos with unironic neo-nazis, and says reports of Japanese warcrimes during WWII are “exaggerated” is the new PM. Goddamn.
I recognize its the politically correct move for the LDP to smother the far-right Sanseito and regain the nationalist vote, but I still hate it.
The Thatcher comparison is 100% right. The first woman but not a friend of women.
She can check on her role model here.
https://www.isthatcherdeadyet.co.uk/
Absolutely disgusted she got the leadership. She did her PR run to look less insane but if there’s any recovery in polling, she’ll just take the mask off and go down her usual road of extreme conservatism.
just in time for trump visit. he personally invited her last december after his election.
Imagine electing someone who has Margaret Thatcher as role model in this age.
I hope she is just a s incompetent! Japanese get what they deserve.
Ah, shit.
More on this subject from other reputable sources:
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– Reuters (A): [Japan’s next leader may be its first woman or youngest in modern era](https://www.reuters.com/world/china/japans-next-leader-may-be-its-first-woman-or-youngest-modern-era-2025-10-02/)
– NBC News (B): [Japan may be about to make history with its next prime minister](https://www.nbcnews.com/world/japan/japan-prime-minister-woman-youngest-leader-takaichi-koizumi-rcna235105)
– ABC (B): [Japan’s top contenders for prime minister are an ‘Iron Lady’ and the son of a former PM](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-03/japan-next-prime-minister-candidates-are-starkly-different/105843004)
– Straits Times (B): [Sanae Takaichi set to be Japan’s next PM, winning ruling LDP election to succeed Shigeru Ishiba](https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/sanae-takaichi-is-set-to-be-japans-next-pm-winning-ruling-ldp-election-to-succeed-shigeru-ishiba)
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Far right speed run any %
GG bois
Fuck sake
Thatcher is her role model, and she was voted in with the support of all the old men in the LDP. Enough said.
I guess she’ll be meeting with Donald Trump when he comes to Japan on the 27th😖
Just read up about her on Wikipedia…
…. for fucks sake.
I swear, progressives all over the world will see this as a huge win, without realising that she’s far-right and extremely conservative
EDIT: that’s my fucking point. Some people will see this as a win because they’re only reading the headline that a woman is most likely the next Japanese PM. While obviously, most progressives will realise that this is in fact not a win.
Let’s see how long she lasts. Going to be interesting for her to meet Trump in a few weeks. Does she speak English? Does she play golf? I assume she’ll know how to massage his ego, which is the key Trump. I can’t really imagine him liking her, given his proclivities in women. I’m sure they’ll both pretend to get along.
People overestimate the prime minister’s power.
You can’t be a politician nowadays without also being a bullshit spewing cunt. In the end, social media controls the narrative.
There is a roughly 99% chance that Ms. Takaichi will be the next prime minister.
The expected sequence is that an extraordinary Diet session will be convened on October 15, Prime Minister Ishiba will resign at the outset, and the Diet will then hold a vote to designate the new prime minister.
Only two scenarios would realistically prevent her selection:
1. The opposition unites behind a single candidate.
Because the current government is a minority, if the opposition can rally around a unified nominee and consolidate their votes, a change of government could occur. However, while the center-left CDP is calling for coordination, this will be difficult unless the center-right DPFP and Ishin join in.
2. Defections from the LDP or Komei in support of the opposition’s nominee.
This is similar to (1), but with some ruling-party members voting for the opposition candidate. In practice, internal skeptics usually try to nudge policy toward the center before resorting to such drastic measures. Accordingly, this scenario is also close to zero probability.
I’m in danger meme😂
Everyone here is far too focused on social progressive or right wing. In reality this was an election of inflation policy and/or tax cuts. She is for aggressive spending to stimulate the economy. Unlike Ishiba and kishida where the highest calling was to unelected budget goons
Btw am I correct to assume korea japan relations are down the drain now ?
Historic but why does this feel like a rerun of Park Geun-hye
Nara deer rejoice!
And the crowd goes mild
Sanae Takaichi another ultra-right winger, she is a member of Nippon Kaigi.
[Nippon Kaigi. -](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Kaigi) Wikipedia
>***Nippon Kaigi 日本会議 is Japan’s largest ultraconservative and ultranationalist far-right non-governmental organisation and lobbying group.*** *It was established in 1997 and has approximately 38,000 to 40,000 members as of 2020.*
>*The group has significant influence in Japanese politics. Many ministers and a few prime ministers are included as members, including Shigeru Ishiba, Tarō Asō, Shinzō Abe and Yoshihide Suga.*
>*The organisation describes its aims as to “change the postwar national consciousness based on the Tokyo Tribunal’s view of history as a fundamental problem” … The group also aims to promote patriotic education, support official visits to Yasukuni Shrine and promote a nationalist interpretation of State Shinto. It also denies that comfort women, recruited by Japan during World War II, were forced to work.*
>*Nippon Kaigi believes that “Japan should be applauded for liberating much of East Asia from Western colonial powers; that the 1946–1948 Tokyo War Crimes tribunals were illegitimate; and that killings by Imperial Japanese troops during the 1937 Nanjing Massacre were exaggerated or fabricated”.[a][27][43][44] The group vigorously defends Japan’s claim in its territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands with China, and denies that Japan forced the comfort women into sexual slavery during World War II. Nippon Kaigi is opposed to feminism, LGBT rights, and the 1999 Gender Equality Law.[36] It has specifically worked to oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage in Japan.[45] It also wants to restore the divine status of Japan’s emperor, make women’s place in society be in the home and place public order above civil liberties.*
[List of members of Nippon Kaigi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_Nippon_Kaigi)
So many great female leaders and she sees Thatcher as her role model…
If abe was a women (lowkey a manga idea)
Practically speaking what are the likely changes to immigration law she will try to make happen? Does anyone have any links that explore this? I am really worried about what this will mean for immigrants.
Great to see women in power!
When she was the minister of internal affairs, Takaichi publicly threatened mainstream media outlets that the government would get rid of license if they criticize the government, just like Brendan Carr in US. Unlike Carr who once used to believe the media independence as crucial key for democracy, Takaichi seems she has been believing that her position had the right to interfere free speech. Under her watch (of course in Abe regime), many decent journalists and news anchors were fired by the media corporations pressured by her. When an official document that proved her active involvements to the threats to media was revealed, she falsely claimed that the document is a forgery, saying“I would resign a congress if the document is true.” Now it is obvious that she lied, as we see she is still in a congress, who has no shame on lie in front of national committee which has been broadcasted nationwide.
Given that, she believes once she gets power, she could do whatever she wants, that sounds quite familiar in the scene of government where top officials do not respect their constitution. It is not a surprise that she wants to change the Constitution so that the government can act more freely without the limit that constitution demands. She doesn’t hesitate to share her opinion about welfare that people who’s in special needs are not actually suffering, but just acting as if they suffer. We can’t underestimate her, and the supporters. Diversity, as a bases of democracy, is unfortunately so vulnerable to pure authoritarian mindset.
Nippon Kaigi wins again.
You have to love Japan. They elect the same party for nigh on fifty years and when it finally goes to hell and close to belly up? They blame the foreigners who just got here recently and can’t even vote. 😀
Hopefully she doesn’t attack foreign residents and their families like Sanseito was planning to.
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