The recent elections in Japan functioned as a referendum on the figure that has emerged like a steamroller in the sclerotized Japanese politics. The verdict, after the shortest electoral campaign in recent decades, was resounding. He Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) took 316 of the 465 seats in the lower house and regained peace. The conservative formation, hegemonic almost without pause since the Second World War, he bled to death months ago with corruption, grayish leaders, internal struggles, electoral setbacks… and then he passed the goods to Sanae Takaichi.
Japan surrenders today to the ‘sanamania’ or ‘sanakatsu’, the contraction of his name and the term that defines the youthful idolatry of pop stars. Takaichi is charismatic and cool. Together with the South Korean president, Lee Jae-myung, He improvised a drum performance of Golden, the famous song by the group Demon Hunters, and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.
Sanae becomes I gold what I touch. On her first day in the office she accompanied herself with a functional black leather bag, already baptized as Sana’s bagfrom the national brand Hamano. It sells for about 800 euros, it has sold out in its eight colors and those who order them now will not receive them until August. It is not easy to get hold of it either. pink pen of the Mitsubishi brand with which he takes notes in Parliament or seals international agreements and sales of cookies have multiplied with shrimp flavor that he was eating on a train.
Charm and innocence
His biography suggests a certain rebellion and today, at his 64 yearsvibrates in the wave of youth. He toured the country with a large displacement motorcycle, played the drums in a heavy group and even punishes the dishes to reduce the tension. Board charm and innocence with the rudeness of power and inflexible geopolitical positions in an irresistible cocktail.
There are no precedents of this magnitude: their support reached 90% among voters ages 18 to 29 on the eve of elections. Months ago, after being invested as prime minister, she already enjoyed 77% in the segment up to the age of 39; his predecessors, Shigeru Ishiba y Fumio Kishidathey were left with 38% and 51%.
The Prime Minister of Japan, Sanae Takaichi / EUGENE HOSHIKO/ POOL / EFE
The table suggests a revolutionary ideology but Takaichi was not chosen by the LDP to blow up the scaffolding but to shore it up in times of uncertainty. Is the most conservative in a conservative formation: opposes gay marriage, defends Salic law despite the shortage of men in the imperial family and refuses to reform a 19th century law that forces married couples to share their surname and that, in practice, ends with 90% of wives giving up theirs. Of the first woman to reach power In a country with flagrant gender inequalities, feminism expects nothing. Nor did Margaret Thatcher, idolized by Sakaichi Sakaichi, improve the situation of women.
Its revolution, like all in this century, has taken place in internet. He approaches the three million of followers on Twitter when Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the opposition, has 64,000. It was Sanseito, the new far-right formation, that cleared the path with shocking anti-immigration messages that permeated the youth. Takaichi has fine-tuned the algorithm and his election videos in Youtube Visits from those from Sanseito triple.
The exhibition of work on social networks is no longer frivolous but non-negotiable and in its wake the cabinet parades. The Minister of Economy, Ryosei Akazawa, He explained his visit to the Tokyo district of Asakusa with the US chief negotiator, Howard Lutnick, and the Defense Minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, He posted photos of his work meeting with White House envoy Pete Hegseth.
Takaichi stands out in the tradition of leaden bureaucrats. Only Shinzo Abe, his mentor, also enjoyed charisma, but the assassinated former prime minister and still a leader of the conservatives, he used his lineage. It is so surprising to step onto the political summit in Japan as a woman without dynastic support.
Takaichi was born in Nara Prefecture, the daughter of a car company employee and a police officer, and has explained her rise from the effort. He has encouraged his caucus to “work like horses” and unveiled his legislative plan: “Work, work and work,” he said, chewing the syllables. It is a delicate message in a country with thousands of deaths annually from exhaustion (karoshi) and with a precarious conciliation between work and personal life that especially penalizes women. Takaichi later clarified that he did not intend to glorify exhausting work and the threat of crisis was extinguished.
Takaichi and Japan enjoy a romance that flies over any slip and defect. The country applauds both his figure and his hostility towards China and the tax exemption on food. Experts warn that these populist measures will have serious economic consequences that could cloud the climate. They are the youthful lovesafter all, as passionate as they are volatile.
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