In a management vote on Saturday, Sanae Takaichi is tipped to grow to be Japan’s first feminine prime minister. Takaichi gives a robust demonstration of progress and gender visibility on the worldwide stage. But the substance of her politics—a rigidly ultraconservative ideology molded by her mentor, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe—actively serves to bolster, reasonably than dismantle, the entrenched conservative and patriarchal constructions of the ruling Liberal Democratic Social gathering (LDP). On this approach, Takaichi’s premiership is not going to be a progressive breakthrough a lot as a vital check of whether or not a lady can solely obtain actual energy in Japan by demonstrating an “over-loyalty” to the LDP’s deepest, most conventional impulses.
Globally, Japan stays an outlier on gender equality: The 2025 World Gender Hole Index ranks the nation a regarding 118th out of 148 nations, inserting it final among the many G-7 nations. This disparity is predominantly attributable to the extreme political underrepresentation of girls. The cupboard of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba says all of it: In October 2024, the brand new administration appointed solely two ladies to the cupboard, a big drop from 5 within the previous lineup. Takaichi’s private success constitutes a uncommon and spectacular exception and raises the query of whether or not her private ascent will translate into real, substantive gender reforms—or whether or not she is primarily an emblem of beauty progress.
In a management vote on Saturday, Sanae Takaichi is tipped to grow to be Japan’s first feminine prime minister. Takaichi gives a robust demonstration of progress and gender visibility on the worldwide stage. But the substance of her politics—a rigidly ultraconservative ideology molded by her mentor, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe—actively serves to bolster, reasonably than dismantle, the entrenched conservative and patriarchal constructions of the ruling Liberal Democratic Social gathering (LDP). On this approach, Takaichi’s premiership is not going to be a progressive breakthrough a lot as a vital check of whether or not a lady can solely obtain actual energy in Japan by demonstrating an “over-loyalty” to the LDP’s deepest, most conventional impulses.
Globally, Japan stays an outlier on gender equality: The 2025 World Gender Hole Index ranks the nation a regarding 118th out of 148 nations, inserting it final among the many G-7 nations. This disparity is predominantly attributable to the extreme political underrepresentation of girls. The cupboard of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba says all of it: In October 2024, the brand new administration appointed solely two ladies to the cupboard, a big drop from 5 within the previous lineup. Takaichi’s private success constitutes a uncommon and spectacular exception and raises the query of whether or not her private ascent will translate into real, substantive gender reforms—or whether or not she is primarily an emblem of beauty progress.
This dynamic appears to align intently with the idea of the “glass cliff,” the phenomenon the place ladies (and different marginalized teams) are elevated to high-stakes, precarious management positions during times of organizational disaster or decline, making them extremely seen however susceptible to inevitable failure. As an illustration, in Australia, Sussan Ley was appointed chief of the conservative Liberal Social gathering in Might 2025 at its lowest ebb ever. This transfer was seen by political commentators as a glass-cliff state of affairs as she inherited a damaged social gathering with severely diminished electoral prospects, setting her as much as fail or just stabilize the social gathering for a future male successor.
In the identical method, Takaichi’s rise happens exactly within the wake of the LDP’s extended interval of public mistrust. It follows two election flops which have left the social gathering struggling to carry onto energy with out a parliamentary majority, guaranteeing the following chief will inherit a fractured legislature in addition to the high-stakes problem of negotiating with opposition events to go vital laws together with the nationwide price range and financial packages. Selling an “atypical” candidate like a hard-line lady serves the LDP’s rapid must venture a picture of change and ideological steadfastness concurrently. If Takaichi finally fails to stabilize the social gathering or the economic system—and there’s a excessive chance of this, given the present minority authorities and inherited financial headwinds—the LDP’s conservative, male-dominated institution may use her downfall to bolster prevailing stereotypes about ladies’s unsuitability for prime management roles, successfully insulating the entrenched male hierarchy from collective blame.
The historic precedent of South Korea’s first feminine president, Park Geun-hye, is compelling. Park’s conservative, dynastic management largely failed to translate right into a progressive coverage mandate or a sustained dedication to closing South Korea’s personal gender hole. Certainly, her turbulent time period was characterised by political scandals that finally strengthened the fragility of feminine management in deeply patriarchal political techniques. For Takaichi, a virtually non-negotiable ideological dedication to the LDP’s historic revisionism and traditionalism have proved indispensable stipulations for her success, rendering her gender id a tactical asset reasonably than a reform mandate. Her success must be interpreted as a triumph of conservative assimilation, not a breakthrough for gender equality; a lot much less, feminism. In truth, she has been seen as an anti-feminist politician attributable to her conservative backing and platform.
The core of the Takaichi paradox lies within the basic contradiction between her political ascendancy as a lady and her fierce opposition to authorized adjustments that will tangibly profit ladies’s equality and autonomy in Japan. Takaichi is a staunch defender of the male-only royal succession legislation and a number one opponent of authorized adjustments to permit married {couples} the choice to retain separate surnames.
Takaichi’s opposition to the non-obligatory dual-surname legislation (fūfubessei) is rooted within the perception that such reforms would irreparably undermine conventional household values. She has lengthy argued that the present naming system ought to stay in place to protect household unity and forestall confusion for future offspring. Because the Nineteen Eighties, the fūfubessei motion urgent for reform of the Civil Code has gained rising help among the many Japanese public. But regardless of this momentum, the present system continues to drive over 95 % of married ladies to desert their skilled and private identities upon marriage. Takaichi’s stance, due to this fact, doesn’t merely mirror private conviction however demonstrates the LDP’s expectation that girls searching for energy should defend exactly these constructions that the majority constrain ladies’s equality.
The irony inherent in Takaichi’s place is obvious: She herself enjoys the skilled autonomy of using her maiden identify in her public profession. She argues that the non-obligatory dual-surname legislation is a direct menace to the household registry system and nationwide unity—a prevailing conservative speaking level that privileges institutional and demographic rigidity over private liberty and gender fairness.
This ideological adherence locations Japan and Takaichi’s administration in direct, rapid battle with worldwide human rights commitments. The United Nations’ prime gender physique, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination In opposition to Ladies (CEDAW), has repeatedly and explicitly denounced Japan’s necessary single-surname legislation and the male-only Imperial Home Legislation as discriminatory, urging the federal government to amend them to align with worldwide gender norms. CEDAW’s concluding observations repeatedly stress that these legal guidelines perpetuate systemic gender inequality. Takaichi’s political platform just about ensures a sustained stress with CEDAW, guaranteeing that her administration’s insurance policies on household and gender will proceed to face intense worldwide scrutiny and breach CEDAW’s spirit of gender equality.
Takaichi’s dedication to conventional, conservative values might be not a easy choice, however the non-negotiable basis of her political credibility and energy inside the LDP. Her energy base is primarily outlined by the patronage and ideological legacy of Abe, who championed her profession, and the political mobilization of the LDP’s ultraconservative core. This core is closely influenced by the highly effective ultranationalist strain group Nippon Kaigi (Japan Convention), which was largely unnoticed by mainstream media previous to its elevated scrutiny within the mid-2010s.
Nippon Kaigi aggressively advocates for a complete, revisionist agenda that consists of the restoration of conventional household values, the normalization of historic revisionism—searching for to applaud Japan’s wartime “liberation” of East Asia and revere the emperor as he was worshipped prewar—and the constitutional revision of Article 9 to rebuild the army. Takaichi’s previous and current coverage positions—advocating the strategic strengthening of “historical past diplomacy” to counter international narratives on “consolation ladies” and wartime compelled labor, for example, in addition to her opposition to twin surnames and common visits to Yasukuni Shrine—are the litmus checks for allegiance inside this group’s sphere of affect.
Her hard-line ideological dedication could lengthen critically to Japan’s safety posture. She was a number one advocate for substantial will increase in army spending throughout her final bid for the premiership in 2021. This time she is advocating the strengthening of nationwide protection and the modification of the structure to totally legitimize the Self-Protection Forces. These positions align intently with the “Abe Doctrine” and inevitably venture a robust, assertive, masculine picture of the Japanese state globally, specializing in nationwide assertion and protection growth.
In the identical approach Abe, underneath worldwide scrutiny for selling ultranationalism, championed “pro-gender diplomacy” by means of his Ladies Shine initiative, Takaichi has equally adopted the language of gender empowerment, significantly throughout her management bids. This consists of pragmatic proposals for tax cuts with money advantages and a notable pledge to “shock (odoroite)” the nation with a “Nordic” gender steadiness in her cupboard appointments. Importantly, even the trendy “Nordic normal” for cupboard steadiness—usually represented by nations like Sweden, the place the present Kristersson cupboard initially appointed 11 ladies ministers out of a complete of 24 (round 45.8 % ladies, which is near parity)—stays extremely aspirational. This calculated coverage shift is probably going a strategic deployment of soft-power rhetoric designed to protect the hard-line coverage content material.
The core tenets of Takaichi’s nationalism—constitutional revision, sturdy protection packages, and historic revisionism—will seemingly assure rapid diplomatic friction. Takaichi has proven indicators of firming down her rhetoric on some controversial matters in current days, corresponding to her view that Japan ought to preserve good ties with “vital neighbor” China, however she is already extensively seen as an ultranationalist determine and the feminine Abe in each China and South Korea.
Her common visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine are significantly inflammatory. The shrine honors greater than 2.4 million Japanese battle lifeless, together with people charged with Class A battle crimes from World Conflict II. Such actions are interpreted by Beijing and Seoul as an official endorsement of Japan’s historic revisionism, undermining postwar settlements. Requested just lately on Fuji TV whether or not she would go to the shrine as prime minister, Takaichi averted an express dedication, stating that the battle criminals’ sentences have been “carried out” and so they have been “not criminals” and that she “nonetheless need[s] to place my arms collectively in prayer … from wherever I’m.” Her remarks are extensively seen as emphasizing her persevering with need to pay respects to the battle lifeless whereas strategically avoiding a diplomatic flash level. A Takaichi administration would due to this fact seemingly sign that Japan is led by a determine who prioritizes nationalist reminiscence over regional reconciliation.
Moreover, Takaichi’s current rhetoric on the contentious Dokdo/Takeshima islands, together with publicly claiming possession and advocating for ministerial attendance on the controversial “Takeshima Day” occasions, has stirred South Korean sentiment and would invite rapid, extreme diplomatic confrontation with South Korea if she places the phrases into apply when elected.
Past this particular island dispute, Takaichi’s aggressive foreign-policy posture—pushed by her alignment with Abe’s declaration that “a Taiwan contingency is a contingency for Japan”—is already seen by Beijing as intentionally provocative and a direct menace to stability. China views this stance as immediately infringing upon its core curiosity of territorial integrity and a political sign that Japan is abandoning its postwar pacifism to say itself aggressively in a regional flash level. Nonetheless, Takaichi’s foreign-policy and safety agendas are more likely to be constrained by the present minority authorities of the LDP and its coalition with the “pacifist” Komeito social gathering.
For all these causes, Takaichi’s potential premiership is much less a landmark victory for substantive gender equality in Japan and extra a sign of the LDP’s political resilience and its conservative core. Her ascent most likely finest demonstrates that probably the most believable path to energy for a girl within the LDP’s inflexible hierarchy is thru a whole, unwavering embrace of probably the most patriarchal and nationalist parts of the social gathering’s platform. If profitable, Takaichi’s management will symbolize a triumph of ideological assimilation over gender-based reform.
