Sanae Takaichi

Sanae Takaichi (高市 早苗, Takaichi Sanae; born 7 March 1961) is a Japanese politician who has been Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since October 2025. She is the first woman to hold either of these positions. A member of the House of Representatives from 1993 to 2003 and since 2005, she also held ministerial posts during the premierships of Shinzo Abe and Fumio Kishida.

Born and raised in Yamatokōriyama, Nara Prefecture, Takaichi graduated from Kobe University and worked as an author, legislative aide, and broadcaster before beginning her political career. Elected as an independent to the House of Representatives in the 1993 general election, she joined the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 1996. A protégé of Prime Minister Abe, she held various positions during Abe's premiership, most notably as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications. She was a candidate in the 2021 LDP leadership election, but was eliminated before the runoff, achieving third place. From 2022 to 2024, during Fumio Kishida's premiership, she served as the Minister of State for Economic Security.

Takaichi made her second run for the party leadership in the 2024 leadership election, where she came in first in the first round but narrowly lost in a runoff to her predecessor Shigeru Ishiba. She ran for the third time in the 2025 leadership election and placed first in both rounds of voting, defeating Shinjirō Koizumi, and becoming the party's first female president. Following the end of the LDP–Komeito coalition, Takaichi secured a coalition agreement with the Japan Innovation Party, and was elected prime minister by the National Diet on 21 October. Early in her premiership, Takaichi faced a diplomatic crisis with China after a statement she made regarding Japan's involvement regarding a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan and subsequent threatening remarks by a Chinese diplomat. Takaichi's administration has consistently polled high in approval ratings. In 2026, she called a snap general election, which resulted in a historic landslide victory for the LDP, securing a two-thirds supermajority and the largest number of seats ever won in postwar Japanese electoral history.

Takaichi's views have been variously described as conservative or ultraconservative. Her domestic policy includes support for proactive government spending and continuing Abenomics. She has taken conservative positions on social issues, such as opposing same-sex marriage, recognition of separate surnames for spouses, and female succession to the Japanese throne. Takaichi supports revising Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan – which renounces the use of military force – has a pro-Taiwanese foreign policy, and supports strengthening the US–Japan alliance. A member of the far-right Nippon Kaigi, she has been described as holding revisionist views of Japan's conduct during the Second World War, and criticised the Murayama and Kono statements which apologised for Japanese war crimes. She made regular visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine prior to her premiership. Since her election as prime minister, Takaichi has been described as one of the most powerful women in the world.

Early life

Sanae Takaichi was born on 7 March 1961 in Yamatokōriyama, Nara Prefecture, to a dual-income middle-class family. Her father, Daikyū Takaichi, worked for an automotive firm affiliated with Toyota. Her mother, Kazuko Takaichi (1932–2018), served in the Nara Prefectural Police. Takaichi graduated from Nara Prefectural Unebi High School. Despite qualifying to matriculate at Keio and Waseda universities in Tokyo, she did not attend as her parents refused to cover tuition fees if she left home or chose a private university because she was a woman.

Instead, Takaichi commuted six hours from her family home to attend Kobe University, paying her way with part-time work. During her university years she joined a band, playing the drums and was once a member of a heavy metal band. In 1984, she graduated from Kobe with a bachelor's degree in business administration, then enrolled in the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management.

In 1987, with sponsorship from Matsushita Institute, she moved to the United States to work as a congressional fellow for Democratic congresswoman Pat Schroeder. In 1989, upon her return to Japan, she worked as a legislative analyst with knowledge of American politics, and wrote books based on her experience. In March 1989, she became a presenter for TV Asahi, co-hosting the station's Kodawari TV Pre-Stage program with Renhō. In November 1990, Takaichi was employed as a presenter for Fuji Television, later serving as anchor of the morning information program Asa Da! Dō Naru.

Political career

Political beginnings

Takaichi first attempted to run for the Nara Prefecture Electoral District of the House of Councillors during the 1992 House of Councillors elections. She eventually ran as an independent candidate and competed with Mitsuo Hattori for the post, after Mitsuo's father, Yasuji Hattori, decided not to run for the post. Of the 313 eligible voters, Takaichi lost to Hattori as Hattori received a total of 162 votes while Takaichi received a total of 137 votes and 1 invalid vote. Hattori was later proclaimed as the winner of the election.

Early political career (1993–2006)

Takaichi was first elected to the Japanese parliament's lower house, the House of Representatives, in the 1993 Japanese general election as an independent. In 1994, she joined the minor "Liberals" party led by Koji Kakizawa, which soon merged into the New Frontier Party.

In 1996, Takaichi ran as a sanctioned candidate from the New Frontier Party and was re-elected to the House of Representatives, despite the New Frontier Party losing nationally. On 5 November, she responded to recruitment from the Secretary-General of the LDP Koichi Kato and joined the LDP. Her act of switching parties, two months after winning the election with anti-LDP votes, resulted in heavy criticism from New Frontier Party members.

In the LDP, Takaichi belonged to the Mori Faction, formally, the Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai, and she served as a Parliamentary Vice Minister for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry under the Keizō Obuchi cabinet. She also served as chairman of the Education and Science Committee. In the 2000 House of Representatives election she was placed in first position on the LDP's proportional representation list and easily won her third term. In 2002, she was appointed as the Senior Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry under Junichiro Koizumi.

In the 2003 Japanese general election, she was defeated in the Nara 1st district by Democratic Party lawmaker Sumio Mabuchi. She moved to the nearby city of Ikoma and won a seat representing the Nara 2nd district in the 2005 Japanese general election. In 2004, while she was out of the Diet, she took an economics faculty position at Kinki University.

Abe governments (2006–2007, 2012–2020)

Takaichi served as Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, Minister of State for Innovation, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Gender Equality, and Minister of State for Food Safety in the Japanese Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. In August 2007, she was the only Abe cabinet member to join former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi in visiting Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of the end of World War II.

After the LDP's victory in the 2012 Japanese general election, Takaichi was appointed to head the party's Policy Research Council (自由民主党政務調査会長). In January 2013, she recommended that Abe issue an "Abe Statement" to replace the Murayama Statement that apologized for "tremendous damage and suffering" brought by Japan's "colonial rule and aggression". In 2015, the day before the 70th anniversary of the surrender of Japan, Abe gave the official Cabinet statement, declaring that previous apologies including Murayama's will "remain unshakeable" but arguing against current or future apologies. The statement was criticized by state media in China and North Korea, and Yonhap News Agency in South Korea.

In September 2014, Takaichi was selected as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications to replace Yoshitaka Shindō. After she was named as a cabinet minister, a photograph was published of her in 2011 together with Kazunari Yamada, the leader of the National Socialist Japanese Workers' Party – a small neo-Nazi party in Japan. Yamada was also pictured with LDP policy chief Tomomi Inada. Yamada stated that the pictures were taken when he visited Inada and Takaichi's offices "for talks", according to his blog. Takaichi denied any link with Yamada and said she would not have accepted the picture had she known Yamada's background. Takaichi was also shown promoting a controversial book praising Adolf Hitler's electoral talents in 1994.