Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has long cited Margaret Thatcher as one of her political role models. The former, long-serving British PM was a dyed-in-the-wool conservative with strongly held opinions on economic policy, national security, immigration and countless other right-of-center positions that Takaichi shares. Famously, the late British prime minister's reputation was in part built in her remarkable capacity for work and her insistence that she only needed four hours of sleep a night.
When it comes to the future of work, Japan is caught in a tug-of-war. Tokyo officials are pushing for a four-day workweek, hoping a shorter schedule will ease the nation's notoriously punishing work culture and curb "karoshi" -which translates to death from overwork. With birthrates falling and burnout rising, many see the shift not as a perk, but a necessity for Japan's economic survival. But the country's new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is signaling a very different approach.
Japan's prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has said she gets by on just two to four hours sleep a night prompting concern over her commitment to a better work-life balance among the country's fatigued employees. Pointing to the bags beneath her eyes, Takaichi told MPs that she survives on minimal sleep a habit she shares with her political hero Margaret Thatcher after being asked how she would tackle Japan's notoriously long working hours.
The US president, who is in Japan on the second leg of a week-long tour of Asia, and Takaichi quickly signed an agreement laying out a framework to secure the mining and processing of rare earths and other minerals. The agreement follows China's recent decision to tighten export controls on the materials, which are crucial for a wide range of products.
Japanese stocks surged over 4% on Monday and the yen fell after Sanae Takaichi was elected to lead the country's ruling party. The Nikkei 225 Index was up 4.6%, soaring to 47,852.29, after earlier passing the 46,000 mark for the first time ever. The yen fell, reaching 149.76 yen against the dollar and hitting a record low against the euro.
Conservative hard-liner Takaichi is the former internal affairs minister of Japan. She holds hawkish views on China, and has also visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which memorializes Japan's war dead.
