LDP’s Sanae Takaichi needs to find coalition partners from opposition to become Japan’s first female prime minister.

Japan ranks low in gender equality among developed nations. The first woman to lead the country is an ultraconservative who cites Margaret Thatcher as a role model. She also loves heavy metal.

The acolyte of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is likely to make a sharp turn to the right on immigration and defence.

Ms Takaichi, an ultra-conservative who on Tuesday became Japan’s first female prime minister, had promised to model her government’s gender balance on countries such as Iceland and Finland, where women make up roughly half of all cabinet members.

An admirer of Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, Sanae Takaichi’s rise to be Japan’s first female prime minister marks a watershed moment.

By Makiko Yamazaki and Leika Kihara TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -After a wild week, Sanae Takaichi may have found the political support she needs to become Japan's next prime minister - but the new cross-party alliances come with risks that her economic plans get mired in an increasingly fragmented legislature.

TOKYO (Reuters) -Formed in 2010 to shake up Japan's political establishment and loosen Tokyo's administrative stranglehold, the Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin,

Japan's parliament elected ultraconservative politician Sanae Takaichi as the country's first female prime minister, just days before a scheduled visit by President Trump.

For most of her life, Sanae Takaichi has loved heavy metal. As Japan’s first female leader, she has many reasons to reach for her sticks