Japan was set to get its first woman prime minister on Tuesday after Sanae Takaichi, a China hawk and social conservative, forged an 11th-hour deal to form a new coalition.
But Japan’s fifth premier in as many years will lead a minority government and has a full in-tray, not least a scheduled visit by US President Donald Trump next week.
Parliament was set to approve Takaichi as prime minister on Tuesday afternoon and she will formally take office after meeting the emperor later.
She won on October 4 the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed almost non-stop for decades but is increasingly unpopular.
But six days later the Komeito party, uncomfortable about Takaichi’s conservative views and an LDP slush fund scandal, quit their coalition.
This forced Takaichi to form an alliance with the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), which was signed on Monday evening.
She pledged Monday to “make Japan’s economy stronger, and reshape Japan as a country that can be responsible for future generations”.
Takaichi’s hero is Margaret Thatcher and she has promised a cabinet with “Nordic” levels of women, up from two under outgoing premier Shigeru Ishiba.
One will be Satsuki Katayama, a former regional revitalisation minister, who will be finance minister, local media said.
Japan ranked 118 out of 148 in the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Gender Gap Report.
Women held 13.2 percent of management positions in 2021. Around 15 percent of lower house MPs are women.
Takaichi, 64, has said she hopes to raise awareness about women’s health struggles and has spoken candidly about her own experience with menopause.
Despite these gestures, her policy positions on gender place her on the right of an already conservative and male-dominated LDP.
She opposes revising a 19th-century law requiring married couples to share the same surname, and wants the imperial family to stick to male-only succession.
In Nara, Takaichi’s hometown, company worker Keiko Yoshida, 39, was hopeful that Takaichi would “make Japan a more liveable place for women”.
“Maybe she’ll help create towns that are more supportive of women, with support for mothers, support for working women,” she told AFP.
Takaichi’s many challenges include reversing the decline of Japan’s population and injecting some vim in the world’s fourth-largest economy.
Being in a minority in both houses of parliament, the new coalition will need support from other parties to push through legislation.
Takaichi has in the past backed aggressive monetary easing and expanded government spending, echoing her mentor, former premier Shinzo Abe.
Despite walking back on these “Abenomics” calls in the LDP leadership contest, her victory has boosted Japanese stocks to record highs.
She has also toned down her rhetoric on China.
Last week she stayed away from a festival at the Yasukuni shrine — she has been a regular visitor before — honouring Japan’s war dead.
Media reports said that this was to avoid angering China and a sign that she will take a pragmatic approach to relations with Beijing.
Takaichi will also be under pressure to restore the fortunes of the LDP after a string of poor election results that cost Ishiba his job.
Smaller parties gaining support include the populist Sanseito, which calls immigration a “silent invasion”.
“The LDP under Takaichi may not be popular with a range of voters on the right and left that former LDP leaders Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe had enjoyed,” said Mikitaka Masuyama, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
“Or, her government may regain support from conservatives who left the LDP for other conservative opposition parties,” Masuyama told AFP.
