Japan’s Motorcycle-Riding, Heavy Metal-Drumming Prime Minister Convinces Her Nation That a Better Economic Future Is Worth a Gamble

Last week, I had the opportunity to spend a few days at Tokyo talking with a wide range of people. What came through clearly and forcefully is that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is going to be a major force in Japanese and East Asian life.In October 2025, she won the largest parliamentary majority in the history of the Liberal Democratic Party, which has largely governed Japan for over 50 years. In addition to Ms. Takaichi’s election, the LDP won 316 of the 465 seats in Japan’s House of Representatives. Ms. Takaichi is enormously popular with young Japanese people, with one poll indicating she has 90 percent approval among voters under 30. I asked several people who study Japanese politics if they expected a majority of this size, and every single one said no. In fact, they said it was unthinkable until it happened. As an outside observer with a lot of time in elections, I have a hunch there were three big factors propelling Ms. Takaichi’s victory. A sense of drift and decay in Japan has led many Japanese people to want a new approach. They want disruption of the old order fully as much as President Trump’s supporters want him to continue disrupting things in America. Japan’s economy had been stagnating. The country seemed to be losing influence in the international community. The assassination of the former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, the most popular LDP leader in modern times, was an enormous shock. The recent prime ministers seemed smaller and weaker than the job demanded. They entered office with little influence and promptly squandered it. Most Japanese people were simply eager for a change, but they still preferred the change be within the LDP.Japan, too, has been failing to grow for years. Furthermore, there is an affordability crisis building in Japan just as there is in America. Ms. Takaichi campaigned on lower taxes, less regulation, more investment for economic growth, and a stronger military. In a real sense, she was advocating the kind of policies on which President Reagan, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Abe, and Mr. Trump had campaigned. Her program convinced a surprising number of Japanese that a better economic future was a worthwhile gamble.Yet one of the most decisive aspects behind Ms. Takaichi’s rise is that she is leading a life which is outside the traditional Japanese roles for women. She owns and cheerfully drives a motorcycle. She has a professional quality set of drums in her basement and relaxes at night by playing heavy metal music. She is certainly not the dull, gray regular politician that has normally dominated the Diet.Her enthusiasm and support for America will become obvious when she visits Mr. Trump at Washington on March 19. Mr. Trump has already indicated his enthusiasm for her as an ally with two visits, and it is likely he will visit Japan a third time this year.All this strengthens our alliance structure in East Asia, our ability to defend the Republic of China on Taiwan, and our ability to deter Kim Jong-un and the North Korean dictatorship.As a sign of how the tide is turning in the region, the North Korean dictator has said in the last few days he is eager to negotiate with Mr. Trump and seek some kind of peaceful relationship. Of course, he did not offer to give up his nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles, so we will see if this goes anywhere. Nonetheless, after several years of North Korea helping President Vladimir Putin with Russia’s war on Ukraine, it is encouraging to see Mr. Jong-un begin to use conciliatory language about building a relationship with America.Finally, Japan is one of the greatest scientific and engineering societies on the planet. The joint projects being developed on space, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and other areas of advanced science will be an enormous boost to America and Japan.Ms. Takaichi represents a bold new chapter in Japanese history — and a wonderful opportunity for an even stronger relationship with America.

Japan’s Motorcycle-Riding, Heavy Metal-Drumming Prime Minister Convinces Her Nation That a Better Economic Future Is Worth a Gamble

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