Sanae Takaichi

Takaichi Sanae (Japanese: Takaichi Sanae [Gaoshi Sanae]/Takaichi Sanae, Romanized: Takaichi Sanae, March 7, 1961 -), a Japanese politician, currently the Prime Minister of the Cabinet (Prime Minister; 105th), President of the Liberal Democratic Party and member of the House of Representatives (elected for 10 terms). He has served as a cabinet member for many times in the Abe Cabinet and the Kishida Cabinet. According to a report in the Japan Times, Takaichi is a politician with a "political reputation as a staunch conservative" and a close ally of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In addition, Takaichi is known as the "Iron Lady of Japan" and the "female version of Shinzo Abe" because of his tough right-wing political stance. Takaichi entered politics when he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1993. He had no party membership and joined the New Progressive Party before joining the Liberal Democratic Party in 1997. He was defeated for one term in 2003. In 2004, he married Taku Yamamoto, who was a member of the House of Representatives at the time, and returned to the House of Representatives in the 2005 election. After Shinzo Abe was re-elected as president of the Liberal Democratic Party and returned to power as prime minister in 2012, Takaichi became his long-term ally as a non-partisan. In 2021, Takaichi ran for president of the Liberal Democratic Party for the first time, but lost in the runoff after placing third. He ran for the president of the Liberal Democratic Party for the second time in 2024 and placed first in the first round of the election, but narrowly lost to Shigeru Ishiba in the runoff. In 2025, she ran for the president of the Liberal Democratic Party for the third time. She ranked first in the first round of the election and defeated Shinjiro Koizumi in the second round of the election, becoming the first female president of the Liberal Democratic Party. She then won the prime minister's nomination election on October 21 and became the first female prime minister (prime minister) in Japanese constitutional history. In the 2026 Japanese House of Representatives election, the leader won the largest victory in the history of the Liberal Democratic Party. The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party for Reform won about three-quarters of the seats and announced that it would challenge amending the constitution.