Takaichi

TOKYO — President Trump opened his visit to Japan on Monday with greetings from the emperor a day before he meets new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who is banking on building a friendly personal relationship with the U.S. leader to ease trade tensions.

One key to this strategy might lie in an idea floated by Japan’s government to buy a fleet of Ford F-150 trucks, a meaningful gesture that may also be impractical given the narrow streets in Tokyo and other Japanese cities.

It’s an early diplomatic test for Takaichi, the first woman to lead Japan. She took office only last week, and has a tenuous coalition backing her.

Trump instantly bought into the idea of Ford trucks as he flew to Asia aboard Air Force One.

“She has good taste,” Trump told reporters. “That’s a hot truck.”

Japanese Emperor Naruhito welcomed Trump at the Imperial Palace after the president’s arrival, and the two spoke for about 30 minutes. Trump straightened his jacket as he stood next to Naruhito for photos before the two sat across a round table, with flowers in the middle, for their talks.

“A great man!” he said twice while pointing to the emperor. Trump last saw the emperor in 2019, soon after Naruhito ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne, becoming the first foreign dignitary invited to the palace.

Trump and Takaichi spoke over the phone while the president was mid-flight on Saturday. Takaichi stressed her status as a protege of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a favorite of Trump’s from his first term, and said she praised him for brokering the Gaza ceasefire that led to the return of hostages held by Hamas.

“I thought [Trump] is a very cheerful and fun person,” she said. “He well recognizes me and said he remembers me as a politician whom [former] Prime Minister Abe really cared about,” she said. “And I told the president that I extremely look forward to welcoming him in Tokyo.”

Trump spent Sunday in Malaysia, where he participated in a regional summit, and departed Monday morning for Japan. While on Air Force One on Monday, he said he planned to talk in Tokyo about the “great friendship” between the U.S. and Japan.

Resetting the trade relationship

Beneath the hospitality is the search for a strategy to navigate the increasingly complex trade relationship that Trump shook up earlier this year with tariffs.

Trump wants allies to buy more American goods and also make financial commitments to build factories and energy infrastructure in the U.S.

The meetings in Japan come before Trump’s sit-down with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday in South Korea.

Both the U.S. and Japan have sought to limit China’s manufacturing ambitions, as the emergence of Chinese electric vehicles, artificial intelligence and advanced computer chips could undermine the American and Japanese economies.

“In light of the planned meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping shortly afterward, Trump may also be considering how he might strengthen his hand by demonstrating the robustness of the U.S.-Japan relationship,” said Kristi Govella, Japan chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

Japan’s previous administration agreed in September to invest $550 billion in the U.S., which led Trump to trim a threatened 25% tariff on Japanese goods to 15%. But Japan wants the investments to favor Japanese vendors and contractors.

Japan’s economy and trade minister, Ryosei Akazawa, has said his ministry is compiling a list of projects in computer chips and energy to try to meet the investment target.

“As far as I know, I’m hearing that there are a number of Japanese companies that are showing interest,” he told reporters Friday, though he did not give further details.

Ford trucks in Tokyo would be a powerful symbol

Japanese officials are looking at the possibility of buying more American soybeans, liquefied natural gas and autos. The U.S.-China trade conflict has shut American soybeans out of the Chinese market, leading China to seek more Brazilian supply. China reported no U.S. soybean imports in September, a first since November 2018.

For Trump, the prospect of Ford trucks in the skyscrapered streets of Tokyo would be a win. The administration has long complained that American vehicles were being shut out of a market that is the home of Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Isuzu, Mitsubishi and Subaru. In a September interview on CNBC, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Japan wouldn’t buy U.S.-branded vehicles because “Chevys” were popular with Japanese gangsters.

Takaichi may arrange for Ford F-150 trucks to be showcased in a place Trump gets to see them, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported. The government is considering importing the trucks for its transport ministry to use for inspecting roads and infrastructure, though there are concerns that the F-150 could cause congestion on narrow Japanese streets.

“We appreciate President Trump’s advocating for American made products,” Ford spokesperson Dave Tovar said. “We would be excited to introduce America’s best-selling truck to work and government customers in Japan.”

Japanese media have reported that Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Akio Toyoda could announce plans to import his company’s American-made cars back to Japan during a dinner with Trump and other business leaders on Wednesday.

The gestures — combined with Takaichi’s connection to Abe — should help her deal with Trump, who seems predisposed to like her.

“I think she’s going to be great,” Trump said aboard Air Force One. “She’s a great friend of Mr. Abe, who was a great man.”

In 2016, Abe gave Trump a high-end golf club to celebrate his first election, and the leaders bonded over their love of golf. Trump often expresses sadness about Abe’s 2022 assassination.

But there are risks for Takaichi in emphasizing her ties to Abe, said Rintaro Nishimura, who specializes in Japan at the advisory firm The Asia Group.

“Because it’s Takaichi’s first diplomatic engagement I think she wants to start with sort of a bang,” Nishimura said. “Succeeding the Abe-line rhetoric is definitely going to be part of this engagement, although some also suggest that leaning too heavily on the Abe line might not exactly be good for her for creating her own kind of portfolio, her status as Japan’s leader.”

Following his meeting with Takaichi on Tuesday, Trump will give a speech aboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier anchored in Japan, then hold a dinner with business leaders. Trump plans to leave for South Korea on Wednesday.

But aboard Air Force One on Monday, he told reporters that he was also ready to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, should that be an option.

“If he wants to meet, I’ll be in South Korea,” Trump said.

Boak and Yamaguchi write for the Associated Press. AP writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Oct. 24 (UPI) — Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivered her first policy speech to the parliament Friday, focusing on economic security and boosting defense spending.

Takaichi, 64, became prime minister on Tuesday and is the first woman to lead Japan. She is the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, which is conservative and nationalist.

She plans to pursue aggressive fiscal spending to revitalize Japan’s economy and boost defense spending to address security challenges, she said in her speech Friday, Kyodo reported.

“Wage growth outpacing inflation is necessary, but simply leaving the burden to business will only make it harder for them,” The Japan Times reported Takaichi said. She said her government will soon create an economic stimulus package backed by a supplementary budget.

Takaichi said her administration will tackle rising costs of living as a “top priority,” and said she will raise defense spending to 2% of the gross domestic product by March, two years ahead of target.

“I will turn (people’s) anxieties about the present and future into hope and build a strong economy,” Takaichi said. “We need to proactively promote the fundamental strengthening of our nation’s defense capabilities” to deal with “various changes in the security environment,” Takaichi said.

She said she will abolish the provisional gasoline tax rate, which was a campaign promise, to help reduce inflation. The prime minister said she would do it during the current session, which goes through Dec. 17. That tax has been in place since 1974.

Lifting the nontaxable income level from $6,700 to $10,473 this year is another plan she put forward to boost the economy.

Addressing another campaign promise, she said the government will begin discussions on creating a second capital to be a backup in a crisis. This was a pet project of the JIP, the far right political party with which she and the LDP formed a coalition. Called the Osaka Metropolis Plan, its goal is to reduce the concentration of power in Tokyo, Japan Wire said.

Oct. 21 (UPI) — Sanae Takaichi was elected prime minister of Japan on Tuesday, becoming the first woman to lead the country.

Japan’s House of Representatives announced in a statement that Takaichi had been “chosen by open ballot” during a plenary session on Tuesday.

Takaichi, the Liberal Democratic Party president, will be Japan’s 104th prime minister. The Japan Times reported that she received 237 votes to Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda‘s 149.

The vote was held after the cabinet of now-former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba resigned en masse Tuesday morning.

“To all citizens, I express my deepest gratitude for your understanding and cooperation, and I ask for your continued strong support for the next cabinet and new prime minister as they face domestic and international challenges ahead,” Ishiba said in a statement announcing the end of his coalition government.

Takaichi’s election was made nearly certain after her LDP agreed to form a new coalition government with the Japan Innovation Party on Monday night.

“We will work to realize policies that overcome domestic and international challenges, protect the livelihoods of the people and the peace of the nation and strongly advance Japan forward,” the LDP said Tuesday in a statement.

Ishiba announced his resignation in early September to prevent a split of his LDP following recent election defeats. Takaichi was then made the party leader.

Appointment clinched via a last-minute coalition deal, but government remains without a majority, leaving the risk of instability.

Japan’s parliament has elected ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi as the nation’s first female prime minister.

A protege of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Takaichi received  237 votes in the 465-seat lower house of parliament on Tuesday to confirm her in the role.

The victory follows a last-minute coalition deal by her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party (JIP), also known as Ishin, on Monday. However, her government is still two seats short of a majority, suggesting a risk of instability.

Takaichi replaces Shigeru Ishiba, ending a three-month political vacuum and wrangling since the LDP – which has governed Japan for most of its post-war history – suffered a disastrous election loss in July.

Her victory marks a pivotal moment for a country where men still hold overwhelming sway. But it is also likely to usher in a sharper move to the right on immigration and social issues, with little expectation that it will help to promote gender equality or diversity.

Takaichi has stonewalled measures for women’s advancement. She supports the imperial family’s male-only succession and opposes same-sex marriage and allowing separate surnames for married couples.

The LDP had earlier lost its longtime partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito, which has a more dovish and centrist stance.

Komeito ended the partnership due to its concerns that the LDP was not prepared to fight corruption.

“Political stability is essential right now,” Takaichi said at the signing ceremony with the JIP leader and Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura. “Without stability, we cannot push measures for a strong economy or diplomacy.”

JIP will not hold ministerial posts in Takaichi’s Cabinet until his party is confident about its partnership with the LDP, Yoshimura said.

After years of deflation, Japan is now grappling with rising prices, something that has caused public anger and fuelled support for opposition groups, including far-right upstarts.

Like Abe, Takaichi is expected to favour government spending to jumpstart the weakened economy. That has prompted a so-called “Takaichi trade” in the stock market, sending the Nikkei share average to record highs, the most recent on Tuesday.

But it has also caused investor unease about the government’s ability to pay for additional spending in a country where the debt load far outweighs annual output.

Shortly after the lower house vote, Takaichi’s elevation to prime minister was also approved by the less-powerful upper house. She will be sworn in as Japan’s 104th prime minister on Tuesday evening.

Takaichi is also running on a deadline, as she prepares for a major policy speech later this week, talks with United States President Donald Trump and regional summits.

Right-wing Japan Innovation Party says it will support the governing LDP, allowing Sanae Takaichi to be voted in as leader.

Hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi appears set to become Japan’s first female premier as the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) prepares to sign a coalition deal.

Hirofumi Yoshimura, coleader of the Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin, said on Monday that his right-wing party was prepared to back a Takaichi premiership, providing the LDP with the support it needs to remain in power.

The LDP had appeared on the cusp of losing power when Japan’s legislature meets for an extraordinary session to vote for the next prime minister on Tuesday.

“I told Takaichi that we should move forward together,” Yoshimura told reporters in Osaka as he made the 11th-hour announcement. He added that he would meet Takaichi at 6pm local time (09:00 GMT) to sign the agreement.

The deal clears the way for Takaichi to win Tuesday’s vote, which will see her replace incumbent Shigeru Ishiba, who has resigned.

Political turmoil

Takaichi, a 64-year-old China hawk from the right-wing party, became leader of the LDP earlier this month.

Her bid to become Japan’s first female premier was disrupted when the centrist Komeito party ended a 26-year alliance with the LDP.

Coming just days after Takaichi’s election as the LDP leader, the move plunged the country into a political crisis.

The Buddhist-backed Komeito said the LDP had failed to tighten funding rules in the wake of a slush fund scandal. It was also unnerved by Takaichi’s ultraconservative positions, including a history of harsh rhetoric on China, despite Takaichi having toned that down recently.

The deal between the LDP and Ishin would deliver a combined 231 seats in the lower house of parliament, two short of a majority, meaning the new coalition would still need support from other parties to push through legislation.

But should the vote for Ishiba’s replacement go to a second-round run-off, Takaichi would only need support from more MPs than the other candidate.

Muted response from women

Despite Takaichi appearing set to break the glass ceiling to become the first female premier, many Japanese women were not celebrating her rise.

“The prospect of a first female prime minister doesn’t make me happy,” sociologist Chizuko Ueno posted on X, saying her leadership “doesn’t mean Japanese politics becomes kinder to women”.

Chiyako Sato, a political commentator for the Mainichi newspaper, said Takaichi’s policies were “extremely hawkish and I doubt she would consider policies to recognize diversity”.

Liberal Democratic Party leader Sanae Takaichi appears back on track to become Japan’s first female prime minister.

Japan’s governing party and the main opposition are set to form a coalition government, setting the stage for Sanae Takaichi to become the country’s first female prime minister, local media report.

Sanae Takaichi, the leader of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and Hirofumi Yoshimura, the head of the smaller right-leaning Japan Innovation Party (JIP), known as Ishin, are set to sign an agreement on their alliance on Monday, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday.

Takaichi became leader of the governing LDP earlier this month, but her bid to become Japan’s first female premier was derailed by the collapse of her governing coalition.

Since then, the LDP has been working to cobble together a different political alliance, putting her chances for the top job back on track.

“The LDP has entrusted Takaichi with handling the coalition matter, while the JIP will hold an executive board gathering in Osaka on Sunday and a plenary meeting of lawmakers the following day before giving final approval to the agreement with the LDP,” Kyodo reported.

Japan’s leading Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper also said that Takaichi and Yoshimura were “likely to sign a coalition agreement after talks on Monday”.

Reports of a new coalition come after the LDP’s junior partner, the Komeito party, left the governing coalition after 26 years, plunging the country into a political crisis.

The sealing of an alliance between the LDP and JIP could lead to Takaichi’s election as premier as early as Tuesday, but the parties are still two seats short of a majority to pass the vote.

Should the vote go to a second-round run-off, however, Takaichi would only need support from more MPs than the other candidate.

The moves to form a coalition come just days before the expected arrival in Japan of United States President Donald Trump.

Trump is scheduled to travel to Japan before the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea.

Past visits by top leaders to Yasukuni, which honours convicted war criminals, have angered Japan’s neighbours.

The new leader of Japan’s governing party, Sanae Takaichi, has decided not to visit a controversial World War II shrine in Tokyo, as uncertainty remains over whether she will be appointed prime minister ahead of a visit by United States President Donald Trump before the end of the month.

Takaichi, 64, seen as an arch-conservative from the right of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has previously visited the Yasukuni Shrine, including as a government minister.

However, Takaichi opted on Friday to send an offering, and reports said she was likely to refrain from visiting in order not to antagonise the country’s neighbours whom Imperial Japan had occupied and committed atrocities against in the first half of the 20th century.

Past visits by top leaders to Yasukuni, which honours convicted war criminals, have angered China and South Korea. The last visit by a Japanese premier was in 2013 by the late Shinzo Abe, Takaichi’s mentor.

Takaichi’s decision not to visit the shrine came as Japan’s former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, best known for making a statement apologising for atrocities Japan committed in Asia over the course of World War II, died aged 101.

Murayama, in office from 1994 to 1996, issued the 1995 “Murayama statement” on the 50th anniversary of Japan’s unconditional surrender.

Murayama died on Friday at a hospital in his hometown, Oita, in southwestern Japan, according to a statement from Mizuho Fukushima, head of Japan’s Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Hiroyuki Takano, secretary-general of the SDP in Oita, told the AFP news agency he had been informed that Murayama died of old age.

Political wrangling

Takaichi became LDP leader on October 4, but her aim to become Japan’s first female prime minister was derailed after the LDP’s coalition partner of 26 years, the Komeito party, pulled the plug on their alliance last week.

The LDP is now in talks about forming a different alliance, boosting Takaichi’s chances of becoming premier in a parliamentary vote that local media reports said will likely happen on Tuesday.

The clock is ticking for Takaichi to become Japan’s fifth prime minister in as many years with Trump’s impending visit.

Details of Washington and Tokyo’s trade deal remain unresolved and Trump – who had warm relations with Abe in his first term – wants Japan to stop Russian energy imports and boost defence spending.

Komeito said that the LDP has failed to tighten rules on party funding following a damaging slush fund scandal involving dodgy payments of millions of dollars.

The LDP this week began talks on forming a new coalition with the Japan Innovation Party instead.

The two parties would be two seats short of a majority but the alliance would still likely ensure that Takaichi succeeds in becoming premier.

A spanner in the works could be if opposition parties agreed on a rival candidate but talks earlier this week appeared to make little headway.

More talks were due to take place on Friday.

Oct. 4 (UPI) — Sanae Takaichi, a hardline conservative, is set to become Japan’s first female prime minister after being elected by her Liberal Democratic Party on Saturday.

The 64-year-old former economic security minister defeated four other candidates to lead the LDP after two rounds of voting. She has served as party president this year.

If elected by both houses of the parliament later this month, she will replace Shigeru Ishiba, who announced last month he would resign after being in office for less than one year. Ishiba is a member of the LDP.

In the past two elections, the party became the minority among representatives and councillors in parliament, which is known as the Diet.

Takaichi has 32 years of political experience, including serving Nara, which is in Japan’s main island of Honshu, in the lower house. She was the economics minister from 2022 to 2024.

In a runoff, Takaichi defeated Shinjiro Koizumi, the 44-year-old agricultural minister seen as the favorite going into Saturday’s election. She received 149 lawmaker votes and 36 LDP chapter votes, ahead of Koizumi’s 145 votes from lawmakers and 11 from the prefectural chapters.

Other candidates were Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, former LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi and former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi .

“I’m feeling how tough it’s going to be from here on, rather than feeling happy,” Takaichi said after her election. “We won’t be able to rebuild the party if I don’t get everyone’s help, from all generations. I will scrap my work-life balance and work and work and work and work and work.”

Takachi wants to broaden her support, saying “everyone, and of all generations” — including election rivals — need to help mend the divided party.

Takachi is a protege of Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister assassinated in 2022.

She is vowing to bring back an economic vision known as Abenomics, which includes high fiscal spending and cheap borrowing. Japan currently has a sluggish economy of high inflation and stagnant wages.

In addition, she has to contend with a tariff deal worked out with U.S. President Donald Trump that includes a 15% duty on its exports in exchange for a commitment of $550 million in the U.S. economy.

She must work out how to spend that money, including investments, loans and loan guarantees.

Takaichi was the only candidate to consider renegotiating the deal, saying “we must speak out firmly.”

Tkaichi, who is more conservative than the other candidates, is a former TV host.

“I think she’s in a good position to regain the right-wing voters, but at the expense of wider popular appeal, if they go into a national election,” Professor Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo, told the BBC.

She is a member of the “hardline” faction of the LDP, whose support has imploded “because it lost touch with its right-wing DNA,” Kingston said.

But he noted Takaichi won’t have much success “healing the internal party rift.”

Takachi is an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, who became Britain’s first female prime minister in 1979.

“She calls herself Japan’s Margaret Thatcher,” Kingstone said. “In terms of fiscal discipline, she’s anything but Thatcher. But like Thatcher she’s not much of a healer. I don’t think she’s done much to empower women.”

Takachi has opposed legislation that allows women to keep their maiden names after marriage. Also, she is opposed to same sex marriage, which is not a national law in Japan.

Sanae Takaichi has been elected to lead Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and is therefore likely become the next prime minister, the first female to lead the nation in its history.

Takaichi beat Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, in a run-off vote on Saturday after none of the five candidates won a majority in the first round of voting.

A former economic security minister, Takaichi, 64, skews towards the right-wing flank of the LDP.

A vote in parliament to choose the next prime minister is expected to be held on Oct. 15.

Takaichi is expected to replace Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba since the LDP remains the largest in parliament. However, following the recent elections, the LDP-led coalition no longer holds majorities in either chamber and will require cooperation from opposition lawmakers to govern effectively.

More to come…