Sana-mania' grips Japan as ultra-conservative Takaichi expected to secure election landslide

"When the LDP's conservative wing forced a leadership election to replace the embattled Ishiba in October last year, many expected his ally Shinjiro Koizumi the young, telegenic son of a previous prime minister to win. Instead, Japan's party of government for most of the past seven decades took a gamble on his ultra-conservative rival, Sanae Takaichi, installing her as the country's first female prime minister."

"In an eventful four months, Takaichi has met Donald Trump who this week offered an endorsement and an invitation to the White House in March as well as Xi Jinping and South Korea's president, Lee Jae Myung. She sparked an unresolved row with Beijing over the future of Taiwan, spooked bond markets with promises of sweeping tax cuts, and faced fresh scrutiny over her links with the disgraced Unification church."

Eight months before the election, the Liberal Democratic Party lost its parliamentary majority amid a slush fund scandal and factional plotting targeting prime minister Shigeru Ishiba. A leadership election replaced Ishiba in October, and the party chose ultra-conservative Sanae Takaichi over the expected frontrunner Shinjiro Koizumi, making her the country's first female prime minister. Takaichi met leaders including Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and South Korea's Lee Jae Myung, provoked a dispute with Beijing over Taiwan, proposed sweeping tax cuts that unsettled bond markets, and faced scrutiny over ties to the Unification church. Her public image has produced a strong, persona-driven political momentum for the LDP.

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