The New Yorker:

How Sanae Takaichi, the country’s first female Prime Minister, won big in last weekend’s election.

By Isaac Chotiner

Last October, Sanae Takaichi became Japan’s Prime Minister after being elected as head of the Liberal Democratic Party, the conservative political party that has governed Japan for most of its postwar history. And on Sunday, after calling a snap election last month, she secured a supermajority in Japan’s lower house of parliament, giving her significant power to increase both military and domestic spending, push a harder line against China, and pursue a more restrictive immigration policy. Like Margaret Thatcher, whom she frequently invokes, Takaichi is her country’s first female Prime Minister, and she is operating in a largely male-dominated political system. She has already received strong support from President Trump, whom she will likely pressure to maintain a hawkish stance against China.

I recently spoke by phone with Andrew Gordon, a professor of modern Japanese history at Harvard, about the significance of the election. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed what Takaichi’s landslide victory will mean for Japan’s relationship with China, the changes that have pushed Japanese politics rightward in recent decades, and how this election fits into the broader narrative of rising global populism.

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