(Image via NBC News)
Staff Writer: Skyler Pereyra
Email: spereyra@umassd.edu
Sanae Takaichi will become Japan’s first female Prime Minister after winning a run-off election against Shinjiro Koizumi by a 54.25% margin.
Takaichi was born in Yamatokōriyama in Nara Prefecture on March 7th, 1961. She attended Kobe University for Business Administration and later joined the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, an organization that develops aspiring political leaders.
From there, she took the role of congressional fellow for the U.S. Democrat Patricia Schroeder, the first female U.S. representative elected from Colorado, who also ran for president in 1988.
When Takaichi returned to Japan in 1989, she worked on TV before entering Japanese politics.
She joined the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) in 1995, which is defined on its website as a “liberal political party that advocates democracy and basic human rights, strives to make positive contributions to world peace and the prosperity of mankind and, together with the Japanese people, looks to the future by committing to ongoing reform.”
Takaichi has held many positions within the Japanese government, such as serving on the House of Representatives, serving as the Parliamentary Vice Minister for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Chairman of the Education and Science Committee, Senior Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and representing the Nara 2nd district in the 2005 Japanese election.
An important part of her campaign has been her declaration of herself as “the political heir to Shinzo Abe,” the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history, with promises to revive his economic vision of “high public spending and cheap borrowing.”
While Takaichi has a deep political background, she is surrounded by controversy.
The BBC explains that she “has long opposed legislation allowing married women to keep their maiden names,” stating that it “may destroy the social structures based on family units.” She is also against same sex marriage.
Throughout her campaign, she showed complex views about immigration by stating that there should be a “command center” that oversees foreigner-related issues, as well as blaming tourists for kicking the local deer population in Nara and disrespecting sacred shrines by doing pull-ups on the gates.
Most concerningly to the world at large, Takaichi has downplayed and denied Japanese war crimes committed during WWII. She has made multiple visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, located in central Tokyo, which commemorates Japan’s war dead.
The reason for its controversy is due to the listing of 1,066 war criminals in the shrine’s Book of Souls from WWII, who were convicted during the International Military Tribunal of the Far East, aka the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal.
Three categories were established during these trials: Class A (charges against Japan’s top leaders alleging crimes against peace) and Classes B and C (charges against Japanese of any rank, covering conventional war crimes and crimes against humanity)
Her views on these events are a huge contention point for many East Asian countries, who see the shrine as the embodiment and celebration on the part of Japan of the horrifying events of WWII that have left lasting scars on them to this day.
Many in the political landscape in and outside of Japan believe her views may hinder the relationships between Japan and these other countries.
On the other hand, Takaichi has “vowed to make babysitter fees partially tax-deductible and proposed corporate tax breaks for companies that provide in-house childcare services.”
As a mother of three, she has direct experience with the difficult balance of work and homemaking in Japan, stating, “That’s why my determination has only grown stronger to reduce the number of people forced to leave their jobs due to caregiving, child-rearing, or children refusing to attend school. I want to create a society where people don’t have to give up their careers.”
In a speech given before the run-off vote, Takaichi explained, “Recently, I have heard harsh voices from across the country saying we don’t know what the LDP stands for anymore. That sense of urgency drove me. I wanted to turn people’s anxieties about their daily lives and the future into hope.”
The world is watching Japan as Takaichi inherits a country struggling with low birth rates, a fractured political party, as well as a contentious relationship with the United States.
Will Takaichi be able to lead the country into a new direction, or will she fall short on her promises and let Japan stay where it is?