It’s a move that could backfire if the party is seen simply reverting to the easy money and hawkish diplomacy of her mentor, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, without any new ideas.
Sanae Takaichi, the pro-stimulus conservative poised to become Japan’s first female prime minister, is an energetic nationalist with a soft spot for the hard-nosed politics of Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher and the heavy metal music of Iron Maiden.
In choosing the former economic security minister as its leader, the Liberal Democratic Party is essentially betting on a swing back to the right to attract the younger voters who have flocked to smaller populist outfits, including the arch-conservative Sanseito party.
