Japan’s incoming prime minister is a heavy metal drummer with an iron will — that insiders say gives her an in with President Trump.
Sanae Takaichi is set to become Japan’s first female prime minister if she can assemble a parliamentary coalition after being elected head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. She is already generating attention for her head-banging background and political idols.
She played drums in a heavy metal band while attending Kobe University, rocking out to Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, while becoming a car and motorcycle buff, according to Japanese media reports. Then she did a stint as a broadcaster, before finding her metalhead background was a way to distinguish herself in Japan’s staid political scene.
That’s a bio with enough flair to cause buzz with the Japanese public – although a split with one of her party’s coalition partners has delayed her ascent, leading to jockeying before the Japanese Diet convenes Oct. 21.
The president has already gushed about Takaichi, 64, calling her recent elevation “tremendous news.” She takes a tough stance on immigration, and is considered a “China hawk” who favors building up Japan’s defenses.
“I think she’s going to get along very well with President Trump. And there’s never been a Japanese Prime Minister that didn’t get along well with the president,” former U.S. ambassador to Japan Sen. Bill Hagerty told The Post.
Takaichi has held up the UK’s Margaret Thatcher as an inspiration. As a student living in the U.S. in the late 1980s she interned for former Colorado Rep. and Democratic presidential candidate Pat Schroeder.
She has drawn controversy with past visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japanese war dead, but which Beijing and Seoul associate with Japanese militarism.
Importantly for Trump, she is a protege of the late Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, who golfed with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2017 and gifted him a gold plated driver. Trump called Abe a “great man” after the Japanese leader’s shocking 2022 assassination.
“He’s positive about her,” said a senior administration official who indicated Trump and Takaichi would be able to talk turkey on tough trade issues on the president’s trip to Asia this month.
There are perks to landing on Trump’s VIP list. Argentine President Javier Milei and got a political plug last week at a White House visit with Trump, plus a $20 billion bailout for his country’s economy.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a certified Trump golf buddy, offered a bit of advice to Takaichi.
“Heavy metal drumming may not be the entree to Trump World. Take golfing lessons,” he suggested.