Japan is preparing to write a historical page: Sanae Takaichi, a former minister for economic security, will become the first woman prime minister if, as expected, it will be chosen to guide the government in the next extraordinary session of the diet, already expected for October 15th.
The 64 -year -old conquered a broad consensus especially between the conservative electorate, finally managing to win the race for the presidency of the Democratic Liberal Party (LDP), the government party.
A victory that comes after two failed attempts – in 2021 and 2024 – and which marks a political and symbolic turning point for the country.
From modest origins to the passion for politics
Takaichi was born in the prefecture of Nara, in the Kansii region, the firstborn of two children. His father worked in a manufacturing company, while the mother was a policeman.
Since he was a child he showed a specific and unconventional character: he loved to listen to Heavy Metal and, during the university years in Kobe, he played the battery in a rock band.
After graduation, he enters the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, founded by Konosuke Matsushita (Creator of Panasonic). It is precisely here that the political spark stood: listening to the forecast of Matsushita on a future Japanese economic crisis and the ascent of Asia, the young Sanae decides, at 24, who wants to “write the policies of the future of the country”.
A letter that changed everything
In 1992 he tried for the first time to enter politics by candidating himself in the Senate as independent in his region, but without the support of the ADP the challenge is impossible and loses.
One evening, returning home, he finds a letter from his father:
You can use all my savings for your election campaign. Have confidence, hold your hands and bowed. Don’t give up.
Those words move it deeply. The following year, in 1993, he finally won his first election to the House of Representatives. In 1996 he entered the ADP, the same year in which his political partnership with Shinzo Abe begins, of which he becomes close ally and shares the conservative line.
The legacy of Abe and the ascent to leadership
Convinced supporter of national security policy, Takaichi has always positioned himself to the right of the political spectrum. After the assassination of Shinzō Abehe has committed himself to carrying out his political inheritance and in 2021 he obtained the direct support of the former premier to apply for the leader of the party.
While coming third in that race, and losing the ballot in 2024, he never stopped turning the country to build consent. Perseverance paid: in 2025, to the third attempt, he won with a large margin both among the basic members of the party and among the parliamentarians.
With this victory, Sanae Takaichi is officially the first woman at the helm of the LDP – and, except for surprises, will soon be the first premier woman in Japanese history.
A historic turning point, but with many challenges in front
The possible appointment of Takaichi as premier represents a historical moment for Japan, a country where politics has always been an almost exclusively male territory.
But his leadership will also bring inevitable tensions: on the one hand the enthusiasm for a symbolic break with the patriarchal past, on the other the concerns about his ultra -care political line, close to the nationalist positions of Abe.
What is certain is that his figure marks a turning point in Japanese political history. It remains to be seen if this change will be only from the facade or if it will be able to impact concretely on the Japanese society – still marked by profound gender inequalities.
