Japan’s first female PM to put her political career ‘at stake’, announces snap election on Feb 8
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Japan’s first female PM to put her political career ‘at stake’, announces snap election on Feb 8")
Sanae Takaichi (File) Photograph: (AFP)
Japanese PM promised a two-year pause to an 8 per cent consumption tax on food. She also said that her spending plans would create jobs, boost household spending and increase other tax revenues.
Sanae Takaichi, who became the first woman prime minister of Japan just a few months back, announced a snap election in the country on Monday (Jan 19). She was reported as saying that she will call a national election for February 8 to seek voter backing for increased spending, tax cuts and a new security strategy expected to accelerate Japan’s defence build-up. The Japanese PM will dissolve the House of Representatives on Friday (Jan 23).
“I am staking my own political future as prime minister on this election. I want the public to judge directly whether they will entrust me with the management of the nation," Takaichi said in a press conference, reported by Reuters.
Moreover, the Japanese PM promised a two-year pause to an 8 per cent consumption tax on food. She also said that her spending plans would create jobs, boost household spending and increase other tax revenues. The snap vote will decide the fate of all 465 seats in parliament’s lower house and mark Takaichi’s first electoral test.
Who is Sanae Takaichi?
Sanae Takaichi was born in Nara Prefecture in 1961 and graduated from Kobe University. Her father was an office worker and her mother a police officer. The background of Takaichi is more modest than that of several senior LDP members, who often hail from elite institutions such as the University of Tokyo or Harvard Kennedy School.
Politics was far from her early life, as she was a passionate heavy metal drummer, known for breaking drumsticks mid-performance and always carrying spares. She also enjoyed scuba diving and cars; her cherished Toyota Supra is now showcased in a Nara museum, according to a report in the BBC.
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Before stepping into politics, Takaichi briefly worked as a television presenter. Her political awakening came in the 1980s, amid tense US-Japan trade relations. Seeking to grasp how Americans viewed Japan, she joined the office of Democratic congresswoman Patricia Schroeder, a vocal critic of Japan at the time.
