Japan's first female prime minister

If the recent disasters that beleaguered the Philippines happened in Japan, the prime minister would forthwith resign for failure of the government to protect and serve the people. If the head of state were a woman, there should have been more meticulousness in the handling of rescue and welfare interventions. 

The best man for the job may be a woman. The Philippines first female head of state and head of government, Corazon C Aquino, came into power in 1986 or 39 years ahead, Sirimavo Bandaranaike was elected prime minister of Sri Lanka in 1960 and elected again in 1970. India elected Indira Gandhi as PM in 1966 and elected again in 1980. Israel elected Golda Meir as PM in 1969.

Isabel Peron became president of Argentina in 1974. Margaret Thatcher as prime minister of the UK from 1979 to 1990. Benazir Bhutto was prime minister of Pakistan from 1990 to 1996. Mary Robinson was president of Ireland from 1990 to 1997. Khaleda Zia was prime pinister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006. Sri Lanka elected another woman prime minister, Chandrika Kamaratunga, from 1994 to 2005. Bangladesh elected another woman prime minister from 1996 to 2001 and then from 2009 to 2024.

Helen Clark was Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008. GMA was Philippine president from 2001 to 2010. Indonesia elected its first and only female President, Megawati Sukarnoputri from 2001 to 2004. Finland elected AnneliJaatteenmaki from April to June 2003. Ukraine's PM was YuliaTymoshenko in 2005 and then again in 2007 to 2010. Germany elected Angela Merkel as Chancellor and allowed her to stay for 16 years from 2005 to 2021. Julia Gillard was PM of Australia from 2010 to 2o13. Dilma Rousseff was Barazil's President from 2011 to 2016. There are many others I cannot name for lack of space.

The sixty-sixth prime minister of Japan, SanaeTakaichi, has been Japan's head of government and commander-in-chief of its armed forces since October 21, 2025. She is the first female ever to occupy that position aside from being also the first female president of the LDP or Liberal Democratic Party, the controlling party in the Japanese Diet. The last PM before Takaichi was her party mate Shigeru Ishiba who sayed in office only for one year from 2024 to 2025. Before him, from 2021 to 2024 was Fumio Kishida. From 2020 to 2021 for only a year was YoshihideSuga.

The Japanese PM who stayed the longest was Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2020. The others before him stayed in office only for a year or two.This lady PM was born on March 7, 1961 in the Nara prefecture, She got married in 2004 and divorced in 2017 and remarried in 2021. She has 3 children. A BSBA degree holder, she worked in the USA as a Congressional fellow of US Democrat congresswoman Pat Schroeder. She went home to Japan later and joined politics.She was very active in party politics.

Under PM Abe, she served as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications. She also served as Minister of State for Economic Security during the premiership of Kishida. In 2024, she ran for PM and topped the polls but she lost narrowly in the run-off to her immediate predecessor Shigeru Ishiba. In 2025, she ran again and placed first in both the regular elections and in the run-off. She defeated Shinjiro Koizumi with her coalition with the party wing of the Komeito faction.

The new PM has established a number of firsts in Japan history, aside from being the first female PM and the first female president of the LDP, and the first ever prime minister coming from the Nara prefecture, and the first ever elected PM born in the 1960s. As PM, Sanae appointed Japan's first female Finance Minister, Satsuki Katayama and the first female Economic Security Minister, Kimi Onoda. She aims to appoint more female leaders to head significant agencies in the Japanese government.

In the meanwhile, just to keep the stability of her government, the PM appointed members of opposing factions, including ToshimitsuMotegi as Foreign Affairs Minister, as well as YoshimasaHavashi as Internal Affairs Minister and Shinjiro Koizumi as DefenceMinister.To show her commitment to the thrust of continuity, she also appointed her predecessor's confidant, RyoseiAkazawa who was promoted to the Cabinet level as Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, She insisted however to name her own loyalist as Cabinet Secretary, Minoru Kihara.

Her declared priorities include combating rising inflation, planning, in fact to suspend, poised increases in gas prices. She plans to overhaul the country's social security system, to revisit Japan's constitution and to install structural mechanisms to assure stability of government while always listening to the views of the opposition. She also plans to raise the threshold amount for exemption from taxation. She also stresses that crisis management is one of her core programs of government. She wants a more progressive tax policy and to improve the welfare programs of the government. She wants stronger foreign relations with Asian and other countries.

Judging from her appointments, and pronouncements, Japanese pundits consider PM SanaeTakaichi as a well-balanced strategist with a mastery of the larger picture of Japanese politics. She is truly a liberal democrat who is pro-people and pro-poor. We are all hopeful for a better Phil-Jap foreign relations under a female president. We also hope that Japan shall finally apologize for the injusticesthat comfort women suffered during the Second World War.