is a Japanese politician who served as the Minister of State for Economic Security from 2022 to 2024. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, she has served in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

since 2005, and had also served in several ministerial posts under Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...

. In 2021, she was a candidate in the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election, but was ultimately eliminated prior to the runoff, placing third. Takaichi made her second run for the LDP leadership in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, where she came in first in the first round but narrowly lost in a runoff to

Shigeru Ishiba Shigeru Ishiba (born 4 February 1957) is a Japanese politician who has served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2024. He has been a member of ...

. Takaichi has been described as having a "political reputation as a staunch

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

" and as having been a close ally of former Prime Minister Abe.

Early life

Born and raised in the city of

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

, Takaichi graduated from Unebi Senior High School, Kobe University, and the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management. In 1987, she moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to work for Democratic U.S. Representative Pat Schroeder as a Congressional Fellow. When she returned to Japan in 1989, she gained attention from the mass media as a legislative analyst with experience in the US Congress, and wrote books based on the experience. In 1992, she formed the Kansai Hi-Vision Consortium and presided as the first chairperson.

Political career

Takaichi was first elected to the

in the

1993 Japanese general election General elections were held in Japan on 18 July 1993 to elect the 511 members of the House of Representatives. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which had been in power since 1955, lost their majority in the House. An eight-party coalition gov ...

as an independent. In the following year 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 reelected to the

(lower house). However, the New Frontier Party lost nationally. On November 5, she responded to recruitment from the Secretary-General of LDP Koichi Kato, and, then, 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 Kenkyū-kai) and she served as a Parliamentary Vice Minister for the

Ministry of International Trade and Industry The was a Ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of Japan from 1949 to 2001. The MITI was one of the most powerful government agencies in Japan and, at the height of its influence, effectively ran much of Japanese industri ...

under

Keizō Obuchi was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1998 to 2000. Born in Gunma Prefecture, Obuchi graduated from Waseda University and was first elected to the National Diet in 1963, becoming one of the youngest legislators i ...

cabinet. She also served as chairman of the Education and Science Committee. In the 2000 House of Representatives election she was placed in the 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 The , METI for short, is a ministry of the Government of Japan. It was created by the 2001 Central Government Reform when the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) merged with agencies from other ministries related to economic acti ...

under

Junichiro Koizumi Junichiro Koizumi ( ; , ''Koizumi Jun'ichirō'' ; born 8 January 1942) is a Japanese retired politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ...

. 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 General elections were held in Japan on 11 September 2005 for all 480 seats of the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives, the lower house of the Diet of Japan, Diet. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called the election almos ...

. In 2004, while she was out of the Diet, she took an economics faculty position at Kinki University. Takaichi headed an LDP group that opposed legislation that would allow married couples to retain separate surnames after marriage, arguing that it would undermine Japan's traditional family system. As communications chief she "stirred controversy when she suggested TV broadcasters could have their license revoked if they air programs the government considers politically biased, a remark widely slammed as tantamount to the repression of free speech". She is affiliated with the ultranationalist organization Nippon Kaigi.

First Abe government

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 Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving pri ...

. In August 2007, she was the only Abe cabinet member to join former Prime Minister

in visiting

Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Emperor Meiji in June 1869 and commemorates those who died in service of Empire of Japan, Japan, from the Boshin War of 1868–1869, to the two Sino-Japanese Wars, First Sino-Japane ...

on the anniversary of the end of World War II.

Second Abe government

After the LDP's victory in the

2012 Japanese general election General elections were held in Japan on 16 December 2012. Voters gave the Liberal Democratic Party a landslide victory, ejecting the Democratic Party from power after three years. It was the fourth worst defeat suffered by a ruling party in J ...

, Takaichi was appointed to head the party's Policy Research Council. In January 2013, she recommended that Abe issue an "Abe Statement" to replace the

Murayama Statement The Murayama Statement (村山談話, ''Murayama Danwa'') was a political statement released by former Prime Minister of Japan Tomiichi Murayama on August 15, 1995, officially titled "On the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the War's End" (戦� ...

that apologized for the damage inflicted by Japan through its colonial rule. Takaichi was selected as

Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

to replace Yoshitaka Shindō on September 3, 2014. After she was named as a cabinet minister, a photograph was published of her together with Kazunari Yamada, the leader of National Socialist Japanese Workers' Party – a small neo-Nazi party in Japan. She denied any link with Yamada and said she would not have accepted the picture had she known Yamada's background. She was also shown promoting a controversial book praising

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's electoral talents in 1994. Takaichi was among the three members of the cabinet to visit the controversial

in 2014, became the first sitting cabinet member to attend the shrine's autumn festival in 2016, and was one of four cabinet ministers who visited Yasukuni on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in August 2020. In the December 2014 general election, she won an overwhelming 96,000-vote majority in her district, defeating the runner-up by 58,000 votes. In February 2016, Takaichi commented that the government could suspend the operations of broadcasters that aired politically biased content. The U.S. State Department later described this as " ivingrise to concerns about increasing government pressure against critical and independent media." An electoral redistricting in 2017, which Takaichi oversaw as internal affairs minister, eliminated one of Nara Prefecture's districts and resulted in Takaichi again potentially facing off with her former rival Mabuchi. Takaichi was replaced by Seiko Noda on August 3, 2017, but returned to the Internal Affairs and Communications post on September 11, 2019, replacing Masatoshi Ishida. Among other initiatives, she put pressure on

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

to cut its viewing fees and reform its governance, and oversaw the distribution of cash handouts during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

2021 LDP leadership election

In August 2021, Takaichi expressed her willingness to challenge incumbent Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga for the presidency of the LDP in the scheduled election on September 29. On September 3, Suga announced that he would not seek re-election; news media outlets reported the next day that former Prime Minister Abe had shifted his support to Takaichi. Suga himself supported rival candidate Taro Kono. She has been described as "a favorite of conservatives with hawkish views on defense and diplomacy".

Internal ministry document leak

On March 2, 2023, opposition upper house member Hiroyuki Konishi said that he had obtained a document from the former administration of

suggesting intentions to intervene in the freedom of broadcasting by putting political pressure on broadcasters that were critical to the Abe government and to the Liberal Democratic Party. Takaichi was

during the time frame referenced in the document. When pressed during a committee session the following day, Takaichi said that the document was "fabricated" and vowed to resign from the Diet if the document was proven to be genuine. Several days later, on March 7, 2023, the Internal Affairs ministry confirmed the authenticity of the document in question, and opposition Diet members called on Takaichi to resign. Following the announcement Takaichi backpedaled on her intention to quit and insisted that parts of the document referencing her were incorrect, adding that Konishi should bear the burden of proving the document's authenticity.

2024 LDP leadership election

Takaichi was a contender in the election to succeed Kishida as LDP president in September 2024. Among the nine contenders, Takaichi emerged as a frontrunner alongside

and Shinjiro Koizumi. Ultimately, she came first in thee first round, but was defeated by Ishiba in the runoff. Ishiba offered Takaichi the chairmanship the LDP General Council, one of the key party posts, but she declined. In November, she became head of the LDP's newly organised research commission on public safety and measures against terrorism and cybercrime.

Political positions

Takaichi is a

. She has expressed social conservative views including opposition to same sex-marriage, and dual surnames after marriage, claiming it could "destroy the social structure based on family units". In regards to the economy, she would continue Abenomics economic policies. With regards to foreign policy, Takaichi supports revising article 9 of the Japanese constitution which prohibits Japan from entering armed conflict. A China-hawk, she has been critical of Chinese economic practices such as intellectual property theft and has supported less economic dependence on China. In April and August 2024, she has visited the Yasukuni Shrine, both times signing as minister of state. Takaichi serves as the vice chairperson of parliamentary conference of the Shinto Association of Spiritual Leadership (Shinto Seiji Renmei), which advocates for restoration of Shinto religious rites and moral education. Takaichi often cites

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

as a role model.

Personal life

Takaichi married Taku Yamamoto, a fellow member of the House of Representatives, in 2004. The couple did not have any children of their own, but Takaichi adopted her husband's three children from a previous marriage. They agreed to a divorce in July 2017, with Takaichi citing differing political views and aspirations as the reason for the divorce. However, they rekindled their marriage in December 2021. She has four grandchildren through her stepchildren. According to '' Shūkan Bunshun'', Sanae changed her legal last name to her husband's during their first marriage, as Japanese law requires all married couples to have the same family name. However, Taku changed his to his wife's instead after they married again.

Election history

References

External links