Japan’s first female prime minister is an ultraconservative star from male-dominated party

TOKYO: Sanae Takaichi, a star of ultraconservative Japanese politics and a rare woman to rise in its male-dominated hierarchy, has been elected the country’s first female prime minister.

Takaichi, 64, is also the first woman to lead the Liberal Democratic Party that has dominated Japan’s postwar politics almost without interruption.

She admires former British The leader of a country that ranks poorly internationally for gender equality, Takaichi had rarely mentioned the issue during the campaign. She did remark after winning the presidency of the ruling party: ”Now that the LDP has its first female president, its scenery will change a little.”

First elected to parliament from her hometown of Nara in 1993, she served in key party and government posts, including minister of economic security, internal affairs and gender equality, though her diplomatic experience is thin. She has called for a stronger military, more fiscal spending for growth, in a heavy-metal band and rode a motorcycle. She says she’s a workaholic who would rather work at home than go out and socialize. But after two unsuccessful bids to lead the LDP, she says she’s made efforts to build more connections with colleagues.

She asked all party lawmakers to “work like a horse.”Takaichi has backed financial support for women’s health and fertility treatment as part of the LDP policy of having women serve in their traditional roles of being good mothers and wives.She was part of a campaign to remove references to wartime sexual slavery from school textbooks. Her revisionist views may complicate ties with Beijing and Seoul, analysts say.

Last week, apparently to avoid tensions, Takaichi sent a religious ornament to mark Yasukuni’s autumn festival instead of visiting the shrine in person.

But she also acknowledged her struggles with menopause symptoms and stressed the need to educate men about female health to help women at school and work.

“I will abandon the word ‘work-life balance.’ I will work, work, work and work” — she said in comments that sparked strong, if mixed, online reactions.Takaichi has avoided talking about gender issues in the past, sticking with old-fashioned views favored by male party heavyweights.

She had vowed to significantly increase the number of women in her government, but on Monday she appointed just two as ministers and a third as one of her three