Takaichi, a workaholic in power for a year

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, in power for a year to the day Wednesday, has alienated China, worried markets with her ambitious spending policies and established herself as a workaholic leader.

Here are five things to know about the first woman to lead Japan and what she did during her first twelve months in power.

Shortly after coming to power, Takaichi angered China by suggesting that Japan could intervene militarily in the event of an attack on Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory. The statement sparked an angry response from China, which warned its nationals against traveling to Japan and imposed trade restrictions.

Very quickly, she placed national defense at the top of her priorities. Japan has increased its military spending and security cooperation in Asia, such as deploying missile launchers on remote islands and relaxing rules on arms exports. However, Takaichi recently called Beijing an “important neighbor” in a policy speech and pledged to build a stable relationship between the two countries rivals.

His heavy government spending program and the Bank of Japan’s relatively moderate interest rate policy have destabilized markets and pushed bond yields to their highest level in three decades.

The head of government reaffirmed her commitment to a proactive and responsible budgetary policy, and she wants to implement at the same time a plan to reduce the consumption tax on food products from next year.

This is despite market concerns over Japanese debt, which represents more than double annual economic output and remains one of the highest in the world. So far, it has not managed to identify the approximately 5,000 billion yen (28 billion euros) needed each year to finance this measure.

Criticism linked to overtourism and soaring land prices attributed to foreign investment have led Sanae Takaichi to promote stricter immigration controls, even as Asia’s second-largest economy faces demographic aging and a labor shortage.

Japan has just tightened the rules for foreigners to obtain a permanent resident visa, significantly increasing the level of annual income required and better command of Japanese.

Capital requirements for business visa holders have also been strengthened, in addition to a steep hike in fees for some visas (up to x20), a first in almost 50 years.

Describing herself as a “workaholic,” Sanae Takaichi said she was going to “work, work, work, work and work some more” in the wake of her election as president of her ruling conservative party in October 2025.

She reinforced this image by revealing in a message published on X, widely mocked, that she slept between zero and three hours per night and claiming that she could sometimes organize meetings with her colleagues at 3 a.m.

Enjoying examining alone, late at night, thick files brought back from the office, she participated much less in meals and networking evenings than her male predecessors, thus breaking with the Japanese tradition of “nocturnal politics”.

Sanae Takaichi will face a new election as president of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) next year, a presidency which almost automatically propels him to the post of Prime Minister. And while his loner temperament costs him support within his own party, the longevity of his government depends for the moment on the support of public opinion.

However, the latest polls suggest a slight decline in his popularity, partly due to the resignation of his scandal-stained Minister of Agriculture, but the rates of favorable opinions remain very high overall, between 40% and 60%.