Japan's first woman PM tipped for election win

TOKYO

Japan votes in snap elections on Feb. 8 with polls pointing to a resounding win for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's conservatives after a honeymoon start for the country's first woman leader.

But having angered China and rattled markets in her three months so far, it is unclear what a more confident and secure Takaichi will mean for the region or Asia's number two economy.

The arch-conservative Takaichi, 64, a heavy metal drummer in her youth and an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, became Japan's fifth premier in as many years in October.

This followed a string of calamitous elections for the once-mighty Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), leaving it short of a majority in both houses of parliament.

With ordinary Japanese, especially younger ones, Takaichi has got off to a flier, becoming something of a fashion icon and a hit on social media.

Her tough talk on immigration appears, for now, to have snuffed out the rise of the populist "Japanese first" Sanseito party.

"The words she uses are easy to understand," Mikitaka Masuyama, professor of Japanese politics at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), told AFP.

Her predecessor Shigeru Ishiba "had lots of thoughts inside himself, but he spoke like an academic."

Despite dipping in recent weeks, her cabinet has enjoyed approval ratings of around 70 percent, much higher than previous administrations.

Surveys ahead of Feb. 8’s lower house election indicate, with some caution due to undecided voters, that the LDP will easily win more than the 233 seats needed to regain a majority.