The Albany Gazette - Japan PM Takaichi basks in election triumph

If confirmed by official results, the outcome gives Japan's first female premier a strong mandate to implement her conservative agenda and stamp her mark on the country of 123 million people over the next four years.

The Asia-Pacific region will be watching closely however to see if Takaichi, 64, ups the ante or lowers the temperature with China after enraging Beijing in November with comments about Taiwan.

Financial markets may also be nervous about Japan's public finances and its gargantuan debt pile if Takaichi decides to cut taxes and boost spending in Asia's number-two economy.

"We have consistently stressed the importance of responsible and proactive fiscal policy," Takaichi insisted late Sunday.

"We will prioritise the sustainability of fiscal policy. We will ensure necessary investments. Public and private sectors must invest. We will build a strong and resilient economy," she said.

Capitalising on her honeymoon start after becoming Japan's fifth premier in as many years in October, Takaichi called the snap election last month.

The gamble paid off handsomely, with local media projecting late Sunday that her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won around 300 seats of the 465 contested.

Together with its junior coalition partner, the ruling bloc was expected to have garnered at least the 310 seats needed for a two-thirds majority.

- Drummer -

Takaichi has injected new life into the LDP, which has governed Japan almost non-stop for decades but which has shed support in recent elections because of unhappiness about rising prices and corruption.

A heavy metal drummer in her youth, Takaichi was an admirer of Britain's "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher, and on the ultra-conservative fringe of the LDP when she became party chief.

She has been a hit with voters, especially young ones, with fans lapping up everything from her handbag to her jamming to a K-pop song with South Korea's president.

But she will have to deliver on the economy to remain popular.

"With prices rising like this, what matters most to me is what policies they'll adopt to deal with inflation," voter Chika Sakamoto, 50, told AFP at a voting station in snowy Tokyo on Sunday.

- Socially conservative -

Despite being her country's first woman premier, Takaichi has shown little appetite for framing her leadership around gender in male-dominated Japanese politics.

She is socially conservative, opposing any revision to a law requiring married couples to share the same surname, a rule that overwhelmingly results in women taking their husband's name.

Before becoming prime minister, Takaichi was seen as a China hawk.

She was a regular visitor to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours convicted war criminals along with 2.5 million war dead and is seen as a symbol of Japan's militarist past.

Barely two weeks in office, Takaichi suggested that Japan could intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take self-ruled Taiwan by force.

China regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it.

With Takaichi having days earlier pulled out all the stops to welcome US President Donald Trump, Beijing was furious with her unscripted remarks.

It summoned Tokyo's ambassador, warned its citizens against visiting Japan and conducted joint air drills with Russia. Japan's last two pandas were even returned to China last month.

Margarita Estevez-Abe, associate professor of political science at Syracuse University, said that Takaichi can afford to dial down tensions now.

"Now she doesn't have to worry about any elections until 2028, when the next upper house elections will take place," Estevez-Abe told AFP before the vote.

"So the best scenario for Japan is that Takaichi kind of takes a deep breath and focuses on amending the relationship with China."

(E.Taylor--TAG)