Sanae Takaichi has become Japan’s first female Prime Minister after previous PM Shigeru Ishiba announced his resignation last month, but before entering politics, she played in a metal band.
The new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party is known to be a fan of British hard rock and heavy metal bands, including Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, as well as Japanese rock artists like Demon Kakka, B’z and X Japan.
But she’s a drummer herself, too, and played in a metal band in college. She’s still partial to playing an electronic kit when she needs to combat stress, too, explaining in a recent interview that she plays after her husband goes to sleep.
She’s a carer for her husband, Taku, a former politician who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2024 and suffered a cerebral infarction this year, leaving him paralysed on the right side of his body.
Sanae Takaichi becomes Japan’s first female prime minister, marking a significant rightward shift in the country’s politics https://t.co/LKfJ3MNzDv pic.twitter.com/OxCAXqF6dE
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 21, 2025
Earlier this month, a video of Takaichi singing X Japan’s hit ‘Rusty Nail’ on TV – reportedly on a 2016 karaoke show – went viral, a year after it first received social media attention.
石破茂新総裁が誕生したのでRusty Nailを熱唱する高市早苗でも見るか。 pic.twitter.com/pPchN0Sm5u
— ISSA (@IS_BELALGOAT) September 27, 2024
Among the leader’s other interests are Kawasaki motorcycles – though she stopped riding one herself three decades ago – horse riding, the football team Gamba Osaka and the baseball team Hanshin Tigers. She’s also an admirer of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, herself the first female PM of a country, and is sometimes referred to as the ‘Iron Lady’, like her hero. Holding committed conservative views, she’s expected to move Japan further to the right.
She won the Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership election on October 4, and on October 19, it was announced that the LDP and the Japan Innovation Party would form a coalition. Both of Japan’s houses – the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors – nominated Takaichi to be Prime Minister earlier today (October 21), and Emperor Naruhito then officially appointed her to the role at the Imperial Palace.
