{"id":2752,"date":"2025-10-22T11:29:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T11:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/?p=2752"},"modified":"2025-10-22T11:29:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T11:29:09","slug":"ultraconservative-sanae-takaichi-becomes-japans-first-female-prime-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/?p=2752","title":{"rendered":"Ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi Becomes Japan&#8217;s First Female Prime Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at <strong>Japan<\/strong>\u2019s first female prime minister, <strong>U.S.<\/strong> efforts to bolster the <strong>Israel-Hamas<\/strong> cease-fire deal, and new proposals to end the <strong>Russia-Ukraine <\/strong>war.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>Tokyo\u2019s New Leader<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Japan\u2019s parliament elected ultraconservative lawmaker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/21\/world\/asia\/sanae-takaichi-japan-prime-minister.html\">Sanae Takaichi<\/a> as the nation\u2019s first female prime minister on Tuesday. Her election marks the end of a three-month political vacuum left by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party\u2019s (LDP) disastrous July election, and it comes amid a recent populist wave in Japan akin to growing far-right movements in the United States and Europe.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-nosnippet=\"\">\n<p>Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at <strong>Japan<\/strong>\u2019s first female prime minister, <strong>U.S.<\/strong> efforts to bolster the <strong>Israel-Hamas<\/strong> cease-fire deal, and new proposals to end the <strong>Russia-Ukraine <\/strong>war.<\/p>\n<div class=\"newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode-fallback\">\n<h2 class=\"dek-heading\">\n                <\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/category\/world-brief\/\">Sign up<\/a>  to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<form data-shortcode-newsletter=\"world_brief\" class=\"newsletter-unit-signup newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode email-capture--step-1 newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode-world_brief\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-world_brief newsletter-shortcode-world_brief\">\n<div class=\"show-on-email-capture--signed-up hide-from-newsletter-subscriber newsletter-unit-signup--shortcode--container\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-unit newsletter-row\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-world_brief\">\n<h2 class=\"dek-heading\">Sign up to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.<\/h2>\n<p>\n                        <button class=\"button\">Sign Up<\/button>\n                    <\/p>\n<div class=\"grid--flex newsletter-world_brief newsletter-signup-container\" role=\"group\" aria-label=\"World Brief sign up form\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div class=\"buttons\">\n<div class=\"hide-from-newsletter-subscriber privacy-policy-container\">\n<div class=\"privacy-policy-acknowledge\">\n<p><small>By submitting your email, you agree to the <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/privacy\/\" target=\"_blank\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/termsofuse\/\" target=\"_blank\">Terms of Use<\/a> and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.<\/small><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n    <label for=\"email-world_brief\">Enter your email<\/label><br \/>\n    <input type=\"email\" name=\"email\" class=\"hide-from-reg hide-from-sub\" id=\"email-world_brief\" aria-required=\"true\" required=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>    <button class=\"button button--signup \" data-newsletter-id=\"world_brief\" data-sourceid=\"In-article unit\" type=\"submit\"><br \/>\n      <span class=\"sign-up-text\">Sign Up<\/span><br \/>\n      <span class=\"loading-text\">Loading&#8230;<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button>\n  <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>Tokyo\u2019s New Leader<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Japan\u2019s parliament elected ultraconservative lawmaker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/21\/world\/asia\/sanae-takaichi-japan-prime-minister.html\">Sanae Takaichi<\/a> as the nation\u2019s first female prime minister on Tuesday. Her election marks the end of a three-month political vacuum left by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party\u2019s (LDP) disastrous July election, and it comes amid a recent populist wave in Japan akin to growing far-right movements in the United States and Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Until 24 hours ago, Takaichi\u2019s election appeared in doubt. Earlier this month, the LDP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-10-10\/japan-s-ruling-coalition-set-to-fall-apart-nhk-says\">lost<\/a> its junior coalition partner, Komeito, after it refused to back Takaichi\u2019s candidacy. Komeito disliked the LDP\u2019s lax response to the party\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2024\/03\/26\/japan-party-funding-scandal-kishida-lpd-factions\/\">political funding scandal<\/a>, which emerged in 2023, and condemned Takaichi\u2019s anti-immigrant rhetoric as well as her repeated visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan\u2019s war dead, including convicted World War II war criminals.<\/p>\n<p>Without its 26-year partnership with Komeito, the LDP did not have the votes to have Takaichi replace former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who had only been in office for a year. But on Monday, the LDP managed to clinch a new coalition deal with the populist Japan Innovation Party, which supports Takaichi\u2019s hawkish and nationalistic views.<\/p>\n<p>With that support, Takaichi won 237 votes\u2014four more than a majority\u2014in Japan\u2019s lower house compared to the 149 seats won by Yoshihiko Noda, the head of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. Takaichi also won a second vote in the upper house by 125-46 after falling just shy of a majority in the first round.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Takaichi\u2019s new coalition <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/09\/30\/japan-ishiba-prime-minister-elections\/\">lacks enough seats<\/a> to hold a majority. This means that she will have to work with the very opposition parties that voted against her to pass any legislation, even as she takes the LDP in a more conservative direction.<\/p>\n<p>On her agenda, Takaichi is hoping to tackle rising prices by implementing neo-Abenomics, as she was the prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. She maintains a hawkish stance toward China and South Korea and has advocated for a significant increase to the country\u2019s defense spending. Although she has expressed concern over Japan\u2019s reliance on the United States, Takaichi has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2025\/10\/20\/japan-prime-minister-sanae-takaichi\/\">pledged to work closely<\/a> with U.S. President Donald Trump; the two are scheduled to meet in Tokyo early next week.<\/p>\n<p>Despite being the country\u2019s first female leader, Takaichi is not a champion of <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/japan-first-female-prime-minister-vote-trump-24b4a5e2a2b777139de66e38665ced0d?user_email=6b04284e4d00370f16d3dac0a626e01bf24d86e4d6995646867da6aa680488d0&amp;utm_medium=Morning_Wire&amp;utm_source=Sailthru_AP&amp;utm_campaign=Morning%20Wire_21%20Oct_2025&amp;utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers\">gender equality<\/a>. She opposes same-sex marriage, supports the imperial family\u2019s male-only succession line, and resists efforts to make it easier for married Japanese women to keep their maiden names. Despite pledging to drastically increase the number of women in Japan\u2019s cabinet, Takaichi only appointed two women as ministers: Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and Economic Security Minister Kimi Onoda.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer social conservatism is part of the reason that while Takaichi\u2019s election represents something of a watershed moment in a male-dominated society, it has not brought much cheer from those advocating greater diversity,\u201d Tokyo-based journalist William Sposato <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/10\/21\/japan-elections-prime-minister-conservative-takaichi\/?tpcc=recirc_latest062921\">argued<\/a> in <em>Foreign Policy<\/em>. Japan is ranked 118th out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum\u2019s 2025 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/publications\/global-gender-gap-report-2025\/in-full\/\">Global Gender Gap Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>Today\u2019s Most Read<\/strong><\/h3>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>What We\u2019re Following<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Bolstering a fragile truce. <\/strong>U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/21\/world\/middleeast\/jd-vance-israel-gaza-ceasefire.html\">traveled<\/a> to Israel on Tuesday to shore up support for the U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal. The truce faced its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/israeli-media-reports-military-attack-gaza-2025-10-19\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=Newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=Daily-Briefing&amp;utm_term=102025&amp;lctg=607f1056abd4f461f466319b\">first major test<\/a> on Sunday, when Israel accused Hamas of launching an anti-tank missile and killing two Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza. Alongside Vance, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner will take part in the talks until Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials. The head of Egypt\u2019s intelligence agency, Maj. Gen. <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-10-21-2025-29925b9671834bba6e24adb5f2e35b51?user_email=6b04284e4d00370f16d3dac0a626e01bf24d86e4d6995646867da6aa680488d0&amp;utm_medium=Morning_Wire&amp;utm_source=Sailthru_AP&amp;utm_campaign=Morning%20Wire_21%20Oct_2025&amp;utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers\">Hassan Rashad<\/a>, is also in the country to meet with Netanyahu as well as other senior Israeli and U.S. officials.<\/p>\n<p>In a press conference in Israel on Tuesday, Vance tried to project optimism, saying the cease-fire was going \u201cbetter than I expected.\u201d However, some Trump administration officials reportedly fear that Netanyahu is considering reneging on the deal. Vance is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/10\/21\/politics\/israel-vance-trump-administration-ceasefire\">expected to encourage<\/a> Netanyahu to uphold the truce now that all living hostages have been freed from Gaza, as well as to push Israel to work toward a lasting peace with Palestinian authorities in the region.<\/p>\n<p>Although Hamas has reiterated that it is committed to ensuring that the conflict \u201cends once and for all,\u201d Israel has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/10\/19\/trump-gaza-deal-hamas-israel\">warned<\/a> that it will \u201crespond forcefully to any violation of the agreement.\u201d Such reasoning was used as justification for Israel\u2019s retaliatory attack on Monday, which killed at least 45 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.<\/p>\n<p><strong>New peace talk proposal. <\/strong>European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.consilium.europa.eu\/en\/press\/press-releases\/2025\/10\/21\/statement-on-peace-for-ukraine\/\">joint statement<\/a> on Tuesday expressing support for Trump\u2019s call for an immediate cease-fire in the Russia-Ukraine war. The statement proposes that current battle lines be the starting point for future negotiations and that Kyiv\u2019s allies continue to apply pressure on the Russian economy, including by using <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/09\/26\/russia-frozen-assets-europe-germany-ukraine\/\">frozen Russian assets<\/a> to assist Ukraine\u2019s war efforts.<\/p>\n<p>This plan is part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-10-21\/europe-and-ukraine-prepare-12-point-proposal-to-end-russia-s-war?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2MTA2MzQ5NywiZXhwIjoxNzYxNjY4Mjk3LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUNEY1OUNHUTFZVDMwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJFMUU0QTE5OEMwOUE0MTVGOTlEMjZFMzcyMUFCNUZGMCJ9.g_o9J710LILEv0kbowzsurDlyetl7MteY6kP1VJuqkg\">12-point proposal<\/a> to end the war that European countries are working on with Ukraine. Although the proposal\u2019s details are still being discussed and could change, the current plan would have Trump chair a peace board that would oversee the deal\u2019s implementation. Once Russia commits to halting its offensive, both sides would exchange prisoners of war, and all Ukrainian children would be returned to their home country. Kyiv would receive security guarantees to prevent future Russian aggression, and it would begin the process of joining the European Union. Meanwhile, sanctions would gradually be lifted on Russia so long as Moscow agrees to help fund Ukraine\u2019s reconstruction.<\/p>\n<p>Future peace talks were the subject of a high-level meeting this week between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The two leaders were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/10\/20\/politics\/trump-putin-meeting-possible-delay-russia-ukraine\">supposed to meet<\/a> in Budapest, Hungary, last Thursday to discuss next steps to schedule a summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, that in-person meeting was tabled, and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/european-leaders-issue-statement-backing-trumps-ukraine-ceasefire-position-2025-10-21\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=Newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=Daily-Briefing&amp;utm_term=102125&amp;lctg=607f1056abd4f461f466319b\">replacement phone call<\/a> between the two officials on Monday left diplomats saying that plans for a Trump-Putin sit-down appear premature.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Drones over Khartoum. <\/strong>A series of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cpq1lq1g431o\">drone attacks<\/a> hit the Sudanese capital of Khartoum early Tuesday, including near Khartoum International Airport. The assault came just one day before the airport was set to reopen after being closed for more than two years. Details on potential casualties and damages from the attack are still unclear, and no group has claimed responsibility thus far.<\/p>\n<p>Sudan\u2019s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been fighting a <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2023\/04\/19\/sudan-sanctions-violence-khartoum-burhan-hemeti-conflict\/\">civil war<\/a> since April 2023, largely centered on control of Khartoum. When fighting first broke out, the RSF seized Khartoum International Airport as part of its initial assault, and it held on to the facility until this March, when the Sudanese army recaptured the airport as part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2023\/04\/19\/sudan-evacuation-war-khartoum\/\">major ground offensive<\/a> in the capital.<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday\u2019s explosions were the third wave of drone attacks on Khartoum in the past seven days, with last week\u2019s attacks hitting two army bases. Government authorities are hoping that a massive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/21\/drone-attack-in-sudan-threatens-khartoum-airports-reopening-reports\">reconstruction campaign<\/a> will encourage citizens to move back to Khartoum; since the army\u2019s March offensive, more than 800,000 people have returned to the capital. However, much of the city remains under rubble, and RSF drone activity continues to cause regular blackouts that affect millions.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><strong>Odds and Ends<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>While French authorities continue to investigate the theft of eight lucrative items stolen from the Louvre on Sunday, historians are celebrating the arrest of another alleged French museum burglar. According to a prosecutor on Tuesday, officials have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/world\/europe\/article\/3329828\/chinese-woman-held-over-us1-million-gold-theft-paris-natural-history-museum\">charged<\/a> a Chinese woman with stealing six gold nuggets from Paris\u2019s Natural History Museum last month. The theft, worth more than $1 million, is the latest in a string of <em>Heat<\/em>-like heists to hit France in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2025\/10\/21\/japan-sanae-takaichi-female-prime-minister-ldp-innovation-komeito\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at Japan\u2019s first female prime minister, U.S. efforts to bolster the Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal, and new proposals to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Tokyo\u2019s New Leader Japan\u2019s parliament elected ultraconservative lawmaker Sanae Takaichi as the nation\u2019s first female prime minister on Tuesday. Her election marks the end of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2752","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politcical-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}