Japan: Sanae Takaichi wins elections: Who is the country’s first female leader?

Japan’s PM Sanae Takaichi won a landslide victory on Sunday (February 8, 2026) in a surprise snap election.

Her ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partners won a two-thirds majority in the 465-seat House of Representatives. 

Ms. Takaichi, made headlines on October 21, 2025 and became the first woman leader of a country known for its male-dominated political landscape.

Here’s all you need to know about the Prime Minister.

Who is Sanae Takaichi? 

Sanae Takaichi came into the political arena in Japan in 1993 as an independent candidate. But later joined the Liberal Democratic Party or the LDP and became a protege of the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Ms. Takaichi has most notably served as the country’s Minister of Internal Affairs and Communication, a tenure marked with strict media regulations and enhancement of the country’s telecommunication infrastructure. 

Sanae Takaichi’s early life

Born in Nara, Japan’s ancient capital, Ms. Takaichi’s 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, Ms.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.

“Sanaenomics”

‘Sanae-economics’ or ‘Sanaenomics’ became associated with Ms. Takaichi, an economic ideology that advocated for greater military spending and aggressive fiscal spending. She has also time and again expressed her wish to amend the country’s pacifist constitution with some key changes. 

The changes include a formalisation of the Self-Defence Forces and solidifying the country’s stance to maintain “war potential” in face of threats from China and North Korea. 

Ms. Takaichi, with the formalisation of the SDF(Self-Defence Forces) in the Constitution, wishes to  clearly specify the military’s rule in the Constitution. 

Notably, Sanae Takaichi views the 1947 Japanese Constitution as one “imposed” by US occupation forces.

This is paradoxical, because Ms. Takaichi has shared a deep bond with US President Donald Trump and has interacted on multiple global forums.

First female Prime Minister 

In October 2025, Ms. Takaichi became the first woman leader of the country, a shift from the generally male-dominated polity of Japan

Her appointment by her party became a global talking point with speculation about the changing societal norms in Japanese society. 

Why did she call for ‘snap elections?’ 

Ms. Takaichi called for ‘snap elections’ on January 19, 2026, leading to the dissolution of the lower house on January 23, and the nationwide vote then occurred on February 8, 2026.

She called for the snap elections mainly for seeking a public mandate, as she was appointed by her party, and not elected. She stated that she wanted to ask the “sovereign people” to decide if she fit to lead. 

Ms. Takaichi has also enjoyed record-high popularity ratings of around 70% and analysts noted that she wanted to lock-in the benefits of the favourable period before the ratings decline eventually.