A charismatic straight talker, Japan's Takaichi is poised to expand her power in Sunday's vote

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's prime minister is a heavy metal music fan. She loves motorcycles and playing the drums, including with visiting dignitaries. She thrilled a nation that often fetishizes company loyalty by declaring that her secret for success as leader would be “ work, work, work, work, work. ”

This charismatic combination, along with an image that is both tough and playful, has made Sanae Takaichi very popular, something exceedingly unusual for recent prime ministers in Japan, where her political party, which has led Japan for most of the last seven decades, has struggled mightily.

In stark contrast to the long line of often elderly men who've run Japan over the decades, Takaichi's popularity is rooted in her support by younger people. They affectionately use her nickname, “Sana,” closely follow her fashion, her choice of stationery and her favorite food — steamed pork buns. Polls show her Liberal Democratic Party, despite deep-rooted problems, is now poised to make big gains in Sunday’s vote in the lower house of Parliament, thanks to Takaichi.

This would allow her to take the country in the direction of her hawkish, deeply conservative mentor, the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and beyond.

The Associated Press takes a look at the first woman to lead Japan as prime minister.

She worked her way up from the middle class

Born in Nara, Japan’s ancient capital, Takaichi was raised by conservative parents who taught her prewar moral values. Her mother was a police officer and her father worked at a machinery maker.

As a child, she enjoyed listening to her parents recite an 1890 imperial document that praises paternalistic family values and loyalty to the government, Takaichi said in 2012.

Though she was admitted to prestigious Tokyo schools, her parents made her attend Kobe University while living at home, something that was normal then for unmarried daughters of conservative families.

She was briefly an intern for a U.S. Democratic lawmaker in Denver in the late 1980s and, after returning to Japan, worked as a television personality, an author and a critic.

She's known for her straight talk

Takaichi is unique because she both speaks her mind and is seen as easygoing, said Izuru Makihara, a University of Tokyo politics expert.

“Takaichi is highly regarded, especially by women and younger generations who strongly feel stuck and hopeless,” he said.

She was elected prime minister by Parliament in October, and her first weeks were marked by a hawkish comment on a possible Chinese military action against Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own territory, that angered China by deviating from past strategic ambiguity.

She struggled in male-dominated politics, but is not a feminist

She was first elected to Parliament in 1993 after defying her parents’ opposition. Some voters insulted her as “a little girl,” she said in 2023, recalling that first campaign as a 32-year-old.

“In those days, women who were not considered old enough were unwelcome,” she said. She also faced groundless allegations of being a mistress of a senior politician, and criticism — often from women — for wearing heels, flashy jewelry and short skirts.

“I am who I am,” Takaichi said. “The only way to prove myself is with the work I do.”

She supports the imperial family’s male-only succession and opposes same-sex marriage as well as amending the 19th-century law requiring married couples to have the same surname, under which most women are pressured into abandoning theirs.

Feminists are not happy and say Takaichi’s leadership is a setback for Japanese gender equality.

But Riho Shimogomi, a 43-year-old office worker, said that when she looks at Takaichi's policies, “her being a woman doesn’t matter. ... I think she has strong leadership skills and charisma.”

Following Abe’s policies while pushing even further to the right

As Abe’s protégé, Takaichi has echoed his nationalistic views, defending Japanese wartime actions, pushing for greater military capability and spending, as well as more patriotic education, and the promotion of traditional family values.

She rose quickly through the ranks during Abe’s leadership and was given ministerial and party posts.

After Abe stepped down and backed her as “the star of the conservatives,” Takaichi ran for the LDP leadership race twice, in 2021 and 2024, both unsuccessfully, before finally winning the top job in October, replacing Abe’s rival — centrist Shigeru Ishiba.

Takaichi has reappointed some of Abe’s top advisers as lieutenants and is expected to push Japan even further to the right on security, gender and immigration if she makes gains in Sunday's election.

A workaholic who'd rather be in the office than socializing

Takaichi has admitted she doesn’t like drinking parties and would much rather study at home, though she tried to socialize more to build connections with colleagues after her two unsuccessful leadership bids.

After being elected as LDP leader, Takaichi asked her party members to “work like a horse” and said she would forget her “work-life balance” and “work, work, work, work and work.” These phrases became buzzwords, but some found them uncomfortable in a country known for long hours and overwork.

Analyzing her daily schedule during her first three months in office, the Kyodo News Agency reported last month that she was largely “holed up” in the official residence or her office. She had no dinner appointments with political or business leaders in the first month in office, the Mainichi newspaper said.

Strict but lighthearted

Her strictness can be linked to her mother. One time when Takaichi returned to Nara and complained about being tired because of her work, her mother slapped her in the face, she said, scolding her for griping about a path she'd chosen for herself.

At her mother’s funeral in 2018, Takaichi said her mother slapped her even after she was appointed a government minister, according to Nobumitsu Nagai, a local television executive who described Takaichi’s funeral speech as “not formal and filled with affection for her mother. ... I felt she has inherited that strictness.”

But there's also a playful side.

Years earlier when Takaichi found out that they attended the same elementary school in Nara, she asked Nagai if he remembered the school song, and they sang it together.

“While she gives out a strong impression of being right wing and a hawk, I realized she also has a (playful) side like that,” he said.