By Isabel Conforme Coello
Correspondent
The Land of the Rising Sun has chosen Sanae Takaichi as the nation’s first female prime minister. However, not all women are celebrating this historic milestone.
Takaichi was elected on Oct. 21 by members of the lower house of parliament, replacing Shigeru Ishiba as president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). She defeated her closest rival, Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the liberal opposition Constitutional Democratic Party.
While Takaichi is breaking new ground as the first woman to lead a country dominated by men, she has not made gender equality or diversity a main focus of her platform.
Takaichi set the goal to increase the representation of women in her cabinet to levels seen in Nordic countries, where the share of women ministers is between 36% - 61%. However, thus far she has only assigned two female ministers, Satsuki Katayama and Kimi Onoda. As a result, women comprise just 16% of the cabinet she heads.
“I formed my Cabinet with this idea in mind, bringing together the combined strength of all generations,” the prime minister said in a news conference the day of her election.
On foreign policy, she has expressed interest in strengthening the alliance between Japan and the United States, highlighting that Japan is an important partner for America. She has already hosted President Donald Trump on Oct. 28.
Takaichi is politically conservative, with her supporting male-only succession in the imperial family, being against permitting married couples to use different surnames and not supporting same-sex marriage.
She is from the Nara prefecture located in the center of Japan, from a family with ties to both industry and public service. Her father worked for an automotive company, while her mother was employed by the local police department.
Outside of politics, Takaichi is known for her interest in loud guitar-based music. Since she was a student, she has been both a drummer and guitarist and noted she had an admiration for the musicians Yoshiki, Iron Maiden and Deep Purple.
She played drums in a heavy metal band. Reportedly, there is an electronic drum kit in her accommodation at the Parliament, but she plays it with headphones so she does not disturb other members.
As the LDP faces challenges, Takaichi is widely viewed as a move by the LDP to attract conservative voters who have drifted to the far-right Sanseito party. Sanseito has recently gone from one seat to 15 running on a "Japanese First" platform with the LDP's challenge contributing to losing its majority in both houses of legislative.
