Sanae Takaichi

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sanae Takaichi

• Sanae Takaichi was born and raised in Nara Prefecture, Japan.

• Although she qualified for matriculation at Keio and Waseda universities in Tokyo, she did not attend because her parents refused to pay tuition fees, and she could not leave home to choose a private university due to societal restrictions on women.

• Instead, Sanae enrolled at Kobe University and commuted six hours daily.

• After graduating from Kobe University, she enrolled in the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management for a degree in Business Administration.

• In 1987, while studying at the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, she got sponsorship from the institute and moved to the United States to work for Democratic congresswoman Pat Schroeder as a congressional fellow.

• In 1989, she returned to Japan and gained attention from the media as a legislative analyst with experience in American politics, and wrote books based on her experience.

• In March 1989, she started her professional career as a TV anchor on TV Asahi, where she co-hosted the station’s “Kodawari TV Pre-Stage” programme

• In 1993, Sanae Takaichi was first elected to the Japanese parliament’s lower house, the House of Representatives, as an independent candidate.

• In 1994, she joined the Liberal Party, which soon merged into the New Frontier Party.

• In June 1996, Sanae was re-elected to the House of Representatives as a sanctioned candidate from the New Frontier Party.

• In August 1996, she joined the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Her decision to switch parties, just two months after winning the election with votes against the LDP, received significant criticism from members of the New Frontier Party.

• In the LDP, Takaichi belonged to the Mori Faction and served as the Parliamentary Vice Minister for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry under the Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi cabinet.

• She also served as the chairman of the Education and Science Committee.

• In the 2000 House of Representatives election, she was placed in the first position on the LDP’s proportional representation list and won the election third time.

• In 2002, she was appointed as the senior Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry under the Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s cabinet.

• In the 2003 Japanese general election, she did not win in the Nara 1st district as a Democratic Party lawmaker, Sumio Mabuchi.

• In 2004, when Sanae was not in any cabinet, she took an Economics professor job at Kinki University.

• In the 2005 Japanese general election, she won a seat representing the Nara 2nd district.

• Takaichi was the head of an LDP in-party group that opposed legislation that would allow married couples to retain separate surnames after marriage.

• In Prime Minister Shinzō Abe‘s cabinet, Takaichi served at various ministerial posts such as Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, Minister of State for Innovation, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Gender Equality, and Minister of State for Food Safety. She is also considered an ally of Shinzō Abe.

  

• In August 2007, she was the only member of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe’s cabinet to join former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in visiting Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of the end of World War II.

• In the 2012 Japanese general election, after the LDP’s victory, Takaichi was appointed as the head of the party’s Policy Research Council.

• In the 2014 general election, she won the House of Representatives with an overwhelming 96,000-vote majority in her district, defeating the runner-up by 58,000 votes.

• In August 2021, Takaichi said she wanted to run against Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga for the presidency of the LDP. Later, Suga announced that he would not run for the presidency and showed his support to a rival candidate, Taro Kono. Being the favourite conservative, Takaichi could not make her win in the 2021 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election.

• In the September 2024 LDP president elections, Takaichi was one of the contenders for the post. Among the nine contenders, Takaichi was a frontrunner alongside Shigeru Ishiba and Shinjiro Koizumi. Takaichi came first in the first round, but was defeated by in the runoff round by Shigeru Ishiba.

• Later, Shigery Ishiba offered Takaichi the post of chairman of the LDP General Council, but she did not accept the offer.

• In November 2024, Sanae was appointed as the head of the LDP’s newly organised research commission on public safety and measures against terrorism and cybercrime.

• On 18 September 2025, after Shigeru Ishiba resigned from the LDP presidential post, Takaichi announced her candidacy for the LDP president post.

• On 4 October 2025, Sanae Takaichi won the election by a 54.25% to 45.75 % margin and became the first woman to hold the post of LDP president.

• Takaichi is a hard-line conservative and nationalist. She regularly visits the Yasukuni Shrine, which is viewed as controversial by China and South Korea.

• Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida allegedly nicknamed her “Taliban Takaichi.”

• In 2004, Takaichi got married to a fellow member of the House of Representatives, Taku Yamamoto. They together have no children; however, Sanae adopted three children from her husband’s previous marriage.

• In July 2017, Takaichi and her husband got divorced, and the reason for their divorce was a difference in their political views. However, in July 2017, they remarried.

• After their second marriage, her husband adopted her surname “Takaichi” to fulfill the legal requirements that married couples have the same family name.

• Sanae is an avid JRA horse racing fan.

• She enjoys listening to Japanese rock music, and her favorite artists are Demon Kaka, B’a, and X Japan.

• During her younger life, she played drums and piano and enjoyed heavy metal music.

• She also had an interest in motorcycles and owned a Kawasaki Z400.

• Sanae Takaichi is an avid football lover.