2025-10-08
22 分钟Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, radio, news.
This past weekend, history was made in Tokyo.
For the first time ever, the Liberal Democratic Party,
Japan's dominant conservative political machine elected a woman to lead it.
So the winner was Sanae Takayichi.
And she is on track to become Japan's first female Prime Minister.
Bloomberg's Paul Jackson covers Japan's government out of Tokyo.
He says Takayichi's victory all but guarantees her ascent to the Prime Minister's office in the coming days.
Generally speaking, the Prime Minister of Japan is the leader of the LDP.
In many ways, Takayichi is an unconventional leader in Japanese politics.
For starters, she's a woman.
In a country that consistently ranks poorly for gender equality.
But it goes beyond that.
She's a former heavy metal drummer and motorcycle enthusiast.
She's also a big fan of the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and says she wants to be Japan's Iron Lady.
Takayichi is also known for her hard-line nationalism, a tough stance on China,
and close ties to the legacy of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
And as Paul puts it, her rise marks a more assertive Japan and sends a clear message,
the country is shifting further to the right.
It's this idea that traditional Japanese values are being sacrificed to some kind of global wokeness.