{"id":15307,"date":"2026-02-08T19:40:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T19:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/japanese-pms-election-gamble-set-to-pay-off\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T19:40:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T19:40:17","slug":"japanese-pms-election-gamble-set-to-pay-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/japanese-pms-election-gamble-set-to-pay-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese PM’s election gamble set to pay off"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Japan’s ultra conservative prime minister is set to seize more power after an exit poll suggested she has secured a big majority in the lower house following a snap election.<\/p>\n

Sanae Takaichi’s coalition is predicted to win between 302 and 366 of the 465 seats in the chamber, according to national broadcaster NHK.<\/p>\n

That is well above the 233 needed for a majority.<\/p>\n

In tandem with their coalition partners, her government is actually projected to have a two-thirds majority in the house, the NHK decision desk says.<\/p>\n

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Image:<\/span>
\n Sanae Takaichi. Pic: AP
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It comes after Ms Takaichi, 64, called the winter election, seeking to capitalise on her own high approval ratings.<\/p>\n

Betting on herself, she pledged to secure a majority or step down.<\/p>\n

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A former heavy metal drummer, she says immigration and tourism has led to “foreigner fatigue” in Japan<\/strong>, and her nationalist rhetoric has stoked tensions with China.<\/p>\n

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More on Japan<\/h3>\n
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Related Topics:<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

She’s also anti-gay marriage and a vocal defender of traditional gender roles, and sees late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher as a role model.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, her government plans to step away from Japan’s post-war pacifist principles, bolstering the military and lifting a ban on weapons exports.<\/p>\n

Ms Takaichi became the nation’s first female prime minister in October, pledging to “work, work, work” and nurturing an upbeat image.<\/p>\n

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Image:<\/span>
\n Ms Takaichi playing the drums with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. Pic: Reuters
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She’s won support among younger voters and her personal style has been praised by fans, with admirers now facing a nine-month wait to purchase her signature Hamano black bag.<\/p>\n

And she’s curried favour with Donald Trump<\/strong>; he appeared alongside her during a visit last year, gave her his endorsement, and called her a “winner”, before saying they were “very close friends”.<\/p>\n

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Read more:<\/strong>
Japan’s drum-playing, Trump-hugging, China-provoking PM
Can Japan’s first female PM tighten her grip on power<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Image:<\/span>
\n Ms Takaichi with President Trump. Pic: Reuters
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She became prime minister after taking charge of the struggling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), whose fortunes she is credited with transforming.<\/p>\n

The party had grown accustomed to power, having governed almost continuously since its foundation in 1955, except for two brief windows – from 1993 to 1996, and from 2009 to 2012.<\/p>\n

But it suffered setbacks in recent years, enduring one of its worst electoral performances ever in 2024 amid a backdrop of a financial scandal and economic stagnation, and losing its majority in the lower house.<\/p>\n

The lower house, or House of Representatives, is the more powerful of the two chambers that comprise the National Diet – the Japanese equivalent of parliament.<\/p>\n

Since last year, Ms Taikichi’s LDP has governed in coalition with its junior partner, the Japan Innovation Party, also known as Ishin.<\/p>\n

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Image:<\/span>
\n A cardboard cutout of Ms Takaichi
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A stronger hand in the lower house will empower her government to make progress on its right-wing agenda, including passing a record-setting 122.3 trillion yen (£571bn) budget.<\/p>\n

And with the projected two-thirds majority, she can override the Diet’s upper chamber, the House of Councillors, which she does not control.<\/p>\n

US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, reacting to the result on Fox News, called the prime minster “a great ally” and said she had a “great ‍relationship with the president”.<\/p>\n

Lai Ching-te, president of Taiwan, offered his “heartfelt congratulations” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.<\/p>\n

He added: “May your victory bring an even more prosperous and secure future for Japan and its regional partners.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/sub><\/p>\n

Japanese PM’s election gamble set to pay off<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japan’s ultra conservative prime minister is set to seize more power after an exit poll suggested she has secured a big majority in the lower house following a snap election. Sanae Takaichi’s coalition is predicted to win between 302 and 366 of the 465 seats in the chamber, according to national broadcaster NHK. That is…<\/p>\n

Read More “Japanese PM’s election gamble set to pay off”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}