Inspired by Thatcher, Sanae Takaichi becomes Japan’s first female premier

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By John Geddie

TOKYO (Reuters) -Hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi was voted in by parliament as Japan’s first female prime minister on Tuesday, emulating her hero, Britain’s late leader Margaret Thatcher, after a whirlwind few weeks of political wrangling.

Having won an all-male race to be chosen by her ruling Liberal Democratic Party as its leader on October 5, Takaichi had to scramble for support after her party’s more moderate coalition partner quit their 26-year alliance.   

Attention now turns to her big spending plans that may jolt investor confidence in one of the world’s most indebted economies, and her nationalistic positions that could stoke friction with powerful neighbour China, political analysts say.     

‘ABENOMICS’ ADVOCATE MAY CAUSE SHOCKWAVES

Takaichi, 64, who narrowly lost in a run-off to lead the LDP last year, must also prepare to host U.S. President Donald Trump who is due to visit Japan next week. 

A former economic security and interior minister, Takaichi has repeatedly referred to Thatcher as a source of inspiration, citing her strong character and convictions coupled with her “womanly warmth”.

She said she met the conservative Thatcher, a divisive figure in British politics known as “the Iron Lady”, at a symposium shortly before Thatcher’s death in 2013.

Like Thatcher, Takaichi’s relatively humble background – her mother was a police officer and her father worked at a car company – stands out in a party where many leaders hail from elite political families.

But unlike Thatcher – known for her tough budgeting – Takaichi is an advocate of fiscal largesse and easy monetary policies that have shaken investor confidence in the world’s fourth-largest economy.

A long-time advocate of the late prime minister Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” stimulus policies, she has called for higher spending and tax cuts and pledged to reassert government sway over the Bank of Japan.

NOISEMAKER WITH NATIONALIST BENT

A drummer and a fan of heavy metal, Takaichi is no stranger to creating noise.

She is a regular visitor to the Yasukuni shrine, which honours Japan’s war dead – including some executed war criminals – and is viewed by some Asian neighbours as a symbol of its past militarism.

She also favours revising Japan’s pacifist postwar constitution, and suggested this year that Japan could form a “quasi-security alliance” with Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by China.

Although Takaichi has pledged to increase the number of female cabinet ministers, an area where Japan has lagged its G7 peers, polls show her conservative positions chime more with men than women.

She opposes same-sex marriage and allowing married couples to have separate surnames, an issue that has broad public support in Japan but faces staunch opposition within conservative circles.

SOFTER SIDE TO HARDLINE CONSERVATIVE

Pledging a crackdown on rule-breaking foreigners – a lightning rod issue for some voters amid record rises in migrants and tourists – she led a key campaign speech with a story about visitors kicking deer in her hometown of Nara. 

But her friends and supporters in Nara stressed a softer side to the hardline conservative in interviews with Reuters.

Her former hairdresser, Yukitoshi Arai, said even her hairstyle – which he has dubbed the ‘Sanae Cut’ – is designed to show she is paying attention to people.

“It has a sleek, sharp, and stylish look. The sides are long, but she deliberately tucks them behind her ears as a way of showing that she listens carefully to other people,” he said.

Takaichi graduated from Kobe University with a degree in business management before working as a congressional fellow in the U.S. Congress, according to her website. 

She broke into Japanese politics winning a lower house seat in 1993 as an independent, before joining the LDP in 1996. 

(Reporting for John Geddie)