A Trump visit, a creaking coalition and a cost-of-living crisis: Japan’s new PM needs a fast start | Japan

It’s hard to overstate the symbolism of Sanae Takaichi’s achievement on Tuesday to become the first female prime minister of Japan, a country that consistently ranks poorly in global gender equality comparisons, especially in politics and business.

But he will have little time to enjoy his historic date.

Takaichi is expected to keep his promise to appoint a “Nordic” all-female cabinet, but the challenges of the office loom large as Japan’s fifth prime minister seeks to revive the fortunes of the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP) with the support of an inexperienced junior coalition partner.

Takaichi’s domestic income plate includes a cost-of-living crisis and growing unrest over immigration; many see this as the only viable solution to Japan’s looming demographic crisis.

His diplomatic skills will come under scrutiny next week when Donald Trump arrives in Tokyo for a two-day visit; and will have barely breathed before making his international debut at the Apec summit in South Korea.

When Takaichi won the LDP presidency earlier this month, he inherited a deeply divided party struggling to shake off the taint of a long-running financing scandal and a severely weakened position in both houses of parliament after seven decades of almost uninterrupted rule.

Despite internal calls for the LDP to change or suffer further at the polls, Takaichi’s successful bid to replace the outgoing Shigeru Ishiba as the party’s chairman looked more like a struggle for supremacy between the party’s liberal and conservative wings than the beginning of a new era in Japanese politics.

Suddenly losing the support of Komeito, the LDP’s centrist coalition partner for more than a quarter of a century, Takaichi was forced to shuffle the margins to find enough votes to secure his place in history.

Officially announced on the eve of Tuesday’s crucial parliamentary vote, the deal with Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) has been described as a marriage of convenience between conservatives committed to higher defense spending, reforming Japan’s post-war “pacifist” constitution and tougher restrictions on immigration.

But the two parties also need to avoid potential sources of conflict over economic policy that could quickly test the coalition’s durability.

Media reports indicate that Takaichi’s LDP supporters are unlikely to accept Ishin’s entire 12-point list of demands; These include a 10% cut in the number of lower house seats – a move that would give it more weight in parliament – ​​a two-year suspension of the 8% excise tax on food and a ban on corporate political donations.

Despite his reputation as an unrepentant conservative, Takaichi, during and after the LDP contest, betrayed a more pragmatic streak that could benefit him in relations with Japan’s neighbors.

He made no mention of constitutional reform, a pet project of his hawkish mentor Shinzo Abe, and skipped the autumn festival at Yasukuni, a controversial war shrine in Tokyo, apparently to avoid a fight with China, seen as a symbol of Japan’s militaristic past.

According to reports, Takaichi, 64, will immediately appoint his cabinet, including Satsuki Katayama as Japan’s first female finance minister. He is also expected to appoint his two rivals in the LDP leadership race, Toshimitsu Motegi and Shinjiro Koizumi, as foreign and defense ministers.

But with the LDP and Ishin still within two seats of a majority, it will have to continue seeking support from non-coalition MPs to pass budgets and other legislation; According to some analysts, this is another sign of his unstable stance in power.

“The era of LDP dominance is over and we are entering the era of multi-party politics,” said Chiyako Sato, political commentator and senior writer for the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.

Ritsumeikan University professor Masato Kamikubo said Takaichi would be extremely constrained by the transactional nature of his coalition. “There’s no room for Takaichi to show his true face. All he can do is [seek] Cooperation in every policy. “This is a pathetic situation.”