Born and raised in Nara, Takaichi graduated from Kobe University and worked as an author, legislative aide, and broadcaster before beginning her political career. Elected as an independent to the House of Representatives in 1993, she joined the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 1996. A protégé of Abe, Takaichi held various positions during Abe's premiership, most notably as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications. She was a candidate in the 2021 LDP leadership election, but was eliminated before the runoff, placing third.[1] From 2022 to 2024 during Fumio Kishida's premiership she served as Minister of State for Economic Security. Takaichi made her second run for the party leadership in 2024, where she came in first in the first round but narrowly lost in a runoff to Shigeru Ishiba. She ran again in 2025 and placed first in both rounds of voting, becoming party president and defeating Shinjirō Koizumi.
Takaichi was born and raised in Nara Prefecture. Her father worked for an automotive firm affiliated with Toyota and her mother served in the Nara Prefectural Police.[15][16] Takaichi graduated from Nara Prefectural Unebi High School. Despite qualifying to matriculate at Keio and Waseda universities in Tokyo, she did not attend as her parents refused to cover tuition fees if she left home or chose a private university because she was a woman.[17] Instead, Takaichi commuted six hours to attend Kobe University. After graduation, she enrolled in the Matsushita Institute. Takaichi played the drums and piano during her youth and enjoyed heavy metal music. She also had an interest in motorcycles, and owned a Kawasaki Z400.[18]
With sponsorship from the Matsushita Institute, she moved to the United States in 1987 to work for Democratic congresswoman Pat Schroeder as a congressional fellow.[19][16] Upon return to Japan in 1989, she worked as a legislative analyst with knowledge of American politics, and wrote books based on her experience. She went on to become a TV Asahi anchor in March 1989, co-hosting the station's "Kodawari TV Pre-Stage" programme with Renhō.[20]
Early political career (1993–2025)
Takaichi in 1998
Takaichi was first elected to the Japanese parliament's lower house, the House of Representatives, in the 1993 Japanese general election as an independent.[21] The following year she joined the minor "Liberals" party led by Koji Kakizawa, which soon merged into the New Frontier Party.[22] In 1996, Takaichi ran as a sanctioned candidate from the New Frontier Party and was re-elected to the House of Representatives; however, the New Frontier Party lost nationally. On 5 November, she responded to recruitment from the Secretary-General of the LDPKoichi Kato and then joined the LDP. Her act of switching parties, two months after winning the election with anti-LDP votes, resulted in heavy criticism from New Frontier Party members.
In the 2003 Japanese general election, she was defeated in the Nara 1st district by Democratic Party lawmaker Sumio Mabuchi. She moved to the nearby city of Ikoma and won a seat representing the Nara 2nd district in the 2005 Japanese general election.[23] In 2004, while she was out of the Diet, she took an economics faculty position at Kinki University.[21] Takaichi headed an LDP in-party group that opposed legislation that would allow married couples to retain separate surnames after marriage (夫婦別姓), arguing that it would undermine Japan's traditional family system. Besides, as communications chief she "stirred controversy when she suggested TV broadcasters could have their license revoked if they air programs the government considers politically biased, a remark widely slammed as tantamount to the repression of free speech".[24]
Takaichi was selected as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications to replace Yoshitaka Shindō on 3 September 2014. After she was named as a cabinet minister, a photograph was published of her together with Kazunari Yamada, the leader of the National Socialist Japanese Workers' Party – a small neo-Nazi party in Japan. She denied any link with Yamada and said she would not have accepted the picture had she known Yamada's background.[28] She was also shown promoting a controversial book praising Adolf Hitler's electoral talents in 1994.[29]
Takaichi was among the three members of the cabinet to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in 2014,[30] became the first sitting cabinet member to attend the shrine's autumn festival in 2016,[31] and was one of four cabinet ministers who visited Yasukuni on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in August 2020.[32] In the December 2014 general election, she won an overwhelming 96,000-vote majority in her district, defeating the runner-up by 58,000 votes.[33]
In February 2016, Takaichi commented that the government could suspend the operations of broadcasters that aired politically biased content.[34] The U.S. State Department later described this as "[giving] rise to concerns about increasing government pressure against critical and independent media."[35] An electoral redistricting in 2017, which Takaichi oversaw as internal affairs minister, eliminated one of Nara Prefecture's districts and resulted in Takaichi again potentially facing off with her former rival Mabuchi.[23] Takaichi was replaced by Seiko Noda on 3 August 2017, but returned to the Internal Affairs and Communications post on 11 September 2019, replacing Masatoshi Ishida. Among other initiatives, she put pressure on NHK to cut its viewing fees and reform its governance,[36] and oversaw the distribution of cash handouts during the COVID-19 pandemic.[37]
In August 2021, Takaichi expressed her willingness to challenge incumbent Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga for the presidency of the LDP in the scheduled election on 29 September.[38] On 3 September, Suga announced that he would not seek re-election; news media outlets reported the next day that former Prime Minister Abe had shifted his support to Takaichi.[39] Suga himself supported rival candidate Taro Kono.[40] She has been described as "a favorite of conservatives with hawkish views on defense and diplomacy".[24]
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications document leak
Hiroyuki Konishi, a Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan-affiliated House of Councillors member, said on 2 March 2023 that he obtained a government document indicating that the former Abe government may have intended to interfere with the freedom of broadcasting by putting pressure on broadcasters that were critical of the LDP.[41] Takaichi was Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications|internal affairs minister at the time the document was said to have been created. When pressed during a committee session the following day, Takaichi said that the document was "fabricated" and vowed to resign from parliament if the document were proven genuine.[41] Several days later, on 7 March 2023, the Internal Affairs ministry confirmed that the document was created by ministerial officials, and opposition Diet members called on Takaichi to resign.[42] Following the announcement, Takaichi held to her position that the remarks attributed to her within the document were fabricated, adding that Konishi should bear the burden of proving the document's authenticity.[42]
Takaichi was a contender in the election to succeed Kishida as LDP president in September 2024. Among the nine contenders, Takaichi emerged as a frontrunner alongside Shigeru Ishiba and Shinjiro Koizumi. Ultimately, she came first in the first round, but was defeated by Ishiba in the runoff.[43] Ishiba offered Takaichi the post of chairman of the LDP General Council; she declined the offer.[44] In November, she became head of the LDP's newly organised research commission on public safety and measures against terrorism and cybercrime.[45]
LDP president (2025–present)
Takaichi giving a speech in Nagoya, 2025
Following Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's resignation, Takaichi announced her candidacy for LDP president in the resulting leadership election on 18 September 2025.[46] In early polling, Takaichi and agricultural minister Shinjirō Koizumi were identified as the frontrunners.[47] As campaigning continued, both Takaichi and Koizumi were nearly tied in opinion polls.[48] Takaichi softened her political message during the election campaign, declaring herself a "moderate conservative". She declined to comment on her previous stated intention to visit Yasukuni Shrine as prime minister.[49]
The election was held on 4 October; Takaichi received 183 votes (31.07%) during the first round, the most of any candidate.[50] Koizumi came in second with 164 votes (27.84%). As no candidate achieved a majority in the first round, a run-off election was held between Takaichi and Koizumi.[50] Takaichi won the runoff by a 54.25% to 45.75% margin, becoming the first woman to hold the post of LDP president.[51] In her first act as party president, Takaichi appointed Tarō Asō as vice president and Shun'ichi Suzuki as secretary-general of the LDP.[52]
Like her fellow candidates in the 2025 LDP leadership election, Takaichi has been described as taking a "hard-line stance" on immigration. The New York Times stated that during her leadership campaign "she seized on a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment".[63] Specifically she has been described as wanting "tighter restrictions on immigration"[68] and as leaning on "anti-immigration rhetoric".[69]
During the campaign she called for a "crackdown" on illegal migration and emphasized that "foreigners must strictly obey" Japanese law stating that those who overstay their visa or abscond from justice should be treated as harshly as Japanese citizens. She proposed that policies be reconsidered from the ground up, with an aim to establish an "orderly coexistence" between Japanese citizens and immigrants based on "mutual consideration" in communities. In her campaign manifesto she also proposed establishing an agency to tackle issues such as visa overstays, overtourism, and land purchases by foreign nationals, particularly near defense facilities and strategic assets. On refugees she explicitly stated: "For those who come [to Japan] with financial motives and claim that they are refugees, I'll have you go home."[70][71]
Takaichi supports adoption of a "Comprehensive Economic Security Act" that would establish laws and organizations to prevent foreign students and engineers who come to Japan from nations like China from taking Japanese technology back to their home countries for military purposes.[72]
Economics
Takaichi is known for favouring proactive government spending. She supports heavy government investment in critical strategic sectors in what she refers to as "crisis management investment". These include: artificial intelligence, semiconductors, nuclear fusion, biotechnology, and defence.[73] She supports maintaining Shinzo Abe's policy of Abenomics.[74] During the 2025 LDP leadership election, she said she would consider paying for an economic stimulus plan by issuing bonds to service the national debt.[75]
During her 2021 run for LDP leader, she put forward a three-pronged "Plan to Strengthen the Japanese Economy", also known as "New Abenomics" or "Sanaenomics". The first prong is expansionary monetary policy, the second prong is "flexible fiscal spending in response to crises," and the third prong is "bold investment in crisis management and growth".[76] The plan places particular emphasis on "bold crisis management and growth investment", which will involve large-scale fiscal spending and the development of legal systems and new economic bonds.[77]
Takaichi has advocated for tax increases on corporations. She has considered raising taxes on cash deposits rather than retained earnings, and in September 2021 she estimated that "a 1% tax on corporate cash deposits would increase tax revenue by 2 trillion yen. Even if companies with capital of 100 million yen or less are excluded, tax revenue would increase by 1 trillion yen."[76]
Takaichi supports punishing media outlets that criticise Japan's government and imprisoning those who damage Japan's national flag.[57] In 2014 she hosted office visits for far-right extremists.[57] Also in 2014, a photo surfaced of Takaichi pictured for an advertisement in a Tokyo magazine endorsing a 1994 book titled Hitler's Election Strategy.[80] Takaichi serves as the vice chairperson of the parliamentary conference of the Shinto Association of Spiritual Leadership (Shinto Seiji Renmei),[19] which advocates for restoration of Shinto religious rites and moral education.[81]
Foreign policy
Takaichi, like all other candidates in the 2025 LDP leadership election, supports revising article nine of the Japanese constitution to include mention of the Japan Self-Defence Forces.[82] In 2021, she advocated revising the constitution to reposition the Self-Defense Forces as a "National Army", and increasing defense spending to promote the procurement of advanced equipment and research and development. She stated that in the event of war, "it is important to neutralize enemy bases first."[83] She has proposed the adoption of anti-espionage legislation, something also supported by the opposition parties such as the Democratic Party for the People.[71] She is also in favour of the creation of a national intelligence agency.[84]
She has been critical of Chinese economic practices such as intellectual property theft, and has voiced support for reducing economic dependence on China. She has argued for deployment of US medium-range missiles to Japan,[85] and the removal of marine buoys placed by China in waters both countries claim as part of the Senkaku Islands dispute.[86] In April 2025, she visited Taiwan and met with President Lai Ching-te. She has repeated Shinzo Abe's statement that a "Taiwan emergency is a Japan emergency."[87] During the 2021 Liberal Democratic Party leadership election, in which she placed third, her stance on China was the most hawkish of any candidate.[85]
Takaichi has made multiple visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which has been the source of controversies, primarily surrounding its enshrinement of Japanese Class A, B, and C war criminals that worked before and during World War II. She made visits in April and August 2024, both times signing as minister of state.[93][94][16] She also visited in August 2025, on the 80th anniversary of the surrender of Japan.[95] In the 2021 LDP leadership race, she said she would continue to visit the shrine if elected Prime Minister,[85] but in the 2025 race avoided commenting on the question.[11] In a 2022 lecture led by a right-wing group, Takaichi remarked about controversy in China and South Korea over her Yasukuni Shrine visits: "because we ambiguously stopped halfway through paying respects at Yasukuni Shrine, the other side is tsukeagaru (つけ上がる)." Tsukeagaru is "climbing up" in literal translation, but it is a derogatory expression that primarily considers the opponent low-ranking, which also translates to "get cocky".[96][97][98]
Takaichi has said that war crimes committed by Japan in World War II have been exaggerated.[16] She takes a negative view of the Kono Statement and the Murayama Statement, which acknowledged Japanese war crimes, including comfort women. In an appearance on a television program on 18 August 2002, Takaichi was asked, "Do you think Japan's war after the Manchurian Incident was a war of self-defence?" to which she replied, "I think it was a war for security."[99]
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida allegedly nicknamed her "Taliban Takaichi", while another anonymous senior LDP legislator called the members of the hard right a "cancer" within the party.[49][101] In September 2025, she was criticized for claiming that foreigners had kicked deer in Nara Park based off of videos circulated on social media.[102][103][104]
Personal life
Takaichi married a fellow member of the House of Representatives, Taku Yamamoto, in 2004.[105] They have no children together, but Takaichi adopted Yamamoto's three children from a previous marriage. They divorced in July 2017, with Takaichi citing differing political views and aspirations as the reason.[106][107] They remarried in December 2021. She has four grandchildren through her stepchildren.[108][109]
During her first marriage, she assumed her husband's family name legally, but continued to use her maiden name in public life. Upon remarriage, Taku Yamamoto took the name Takaichi instead, fulfilling the legal requirement that married couples have the same family name.[110] Yamamoto suffered from a cerebral infarction in 2025, leaving the right side of his body paralysed. Takaichi serves as his caregiver.[111] She is a JRAhorse racing fan, an avid Japanese rock listener, especially from artists Demon Kakka, B'z, and X Japan, and is a supporter of sporting teams such as Gamba Osaka and Hanshin Tigers.[112]
↑ "Fumio Kishida Is Japan's New Prime Minister. Here's How He Beat a Much More Popular Rival". Time. 29 September 2021. Archived from the original on 29 September 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2025. Yoshikazu Kato, a director of a Tokyo-based research and consulting firm Trans-Pacific Group (TPG), believes Kishida's team was able to secure more votes with help from supporters of ultraconservative candidate Sanae Takaichi—who was vying to become Japan's first female prime minister.
↑ "高市早苗氏の意外な過去にフェミニストも震えた 総理の座を狙う過程で何があったのか おんなの話はありがたい"[Even feminists tremble at Sanae Takaichi's surprising past: what happened on the road to prime minister? It's nice to hear a woman's side of the story]. PRESIDENT Online (in Japanese). 16 September 2021. Archived from the original on 30 April 2025. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
↑ Although the term "Youth Affairs" is used in its official English title, the original Japanese title shōshika (少子化) is more aptly translated as "diminishing birth rate issue".
↑ "首相になっても靖国参拝 高市氏が意欲「中途半端はつけ上がる」". 毎日新聞 (in Japanese). 19 February 2022. Archived from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2025. 首相の参拝には中国や韓国の反発が予想されるが、高市氏は「途中で参拝をやめるなど中途半端なことをするから相手がつけ上がる」と強調した。
↑ "「get cocky」の意味・使い方・表現". 英辞郎 on the WEB (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 5 October 2025. Retrieved 5 September 2025. 生意気な態度を取る、踏ん反り返る、図に乗る、つけ上がる、気取る
↑ "「夫の介護が辛い」高市早苗が総裁選前に漏らした介護の苦労"["It's difficult caring for my husband": Sanae Takaichi reveals struggle before LDP leadership election]. Gendai Business (in Japanese). 4 October 2025. Archived from the original on 5 October 2025. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
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