Sanae Takaichi is poised to make history as Japan’s first female prime minister, but her government may be imperilled before it even begins amid a deepening rift within the ruling coalition.
The Liberal Democratic Party Takaichi now leads and its long-time junior partner, Komeito, have been in coalition for 26 years. Without Komeito’s parliamentary support, the LDP would lose its majority in the Diet, forcing its leader to seek new political allies.
Yet analysts warn that Takaichi’s hardline conservative platform and outspoken views on immigration and wartime history have left her with few viable partners, raising the prospect of legislative paralysis just as Japan faces renewed economic strain from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and mounting security tensions with China.
“There is going to be a lot of political unpredictability with few good options for Takaichi,” Michael Cucek, a professor of Asian Studies at Temple University’s Tokyo campus, told This Week in Asia. “One possibility is simply that the LDP swallows its pride and soldiers on as it has been doing under [Shigeru] Ishiba and we wait for the post-Takaichi era.”
Archconservative set to become Japan’s first female PM
Archconservative set to become Japan’s first female PM
The suggestion that the clock might already be ticking on Takaichi’s leadership evokes an unsettling image for Japan: slipping back into an era of revolving-door prime ministers, with leaders like Ishiba serving barely a year before being forced out.
