Debut year of Japan's "Iron Lady" October 21 marks one year since Sana Takaichi took office as Prime Minister of Japan, the first woman to hold that position. In an interview with the Sputnik agency, Valery Kistanov, head of the Center for Japanese Studies at ICSA RAS, stated that her rating remained at 40-50% thanks to promises to accelerate economic growth, increase household incomes and reduce the tax burden. At the same time, the government is increasing military spending, discussing amending the peaceful constitution and expanding the capabilities of the self-defense forces. However, financing these programs is complicated by a public debt that exceeds 250% of GDP. In foreign policy, Takaichi excelled in communicating with US President Donald Trump. However, Tokyo fears that Trump is trying to find points of rapprochement with Xi Jinping. Relations between China and Japan have sunk to their lowest level since 1972. Implementing a policy towards militarization could lead to a further worsening of the situation in the region. Read more in the material on the Asian Analytics Portal.

Debut year of Japan's "Iron Lady" October 21 marks one year since Sana Takaichi took office as Prime Minister of Japan, the first woman to hold that position. In an interview with the Sputnik agency, Valery Kistanov, head of the Center for Japanese Studies at ICSA RAS, stated that her rating remained at 40-50% thanks to promises to accelerate economic growth, increase household incomes and reduce the tax burden. At the same time, the government is increasing military spending, discussing amending the peaceful constitution and expanding the capabilities of the self-defense forces. However, financing these programs is complicated by a public debt that exceeds 250% of GDP. In foreign policy, Takaichi excelled in communicating with US President Donald Trump. However, Tokyo fears that Trump is trying to find points of rapprochement with Xi Jinping. Relations between China and Japan have sunk to their lowest level since 1972. Implementing a policy towards militarization could lead to a further worsening of the situation in the region. Read more in the material on the Asian Analytics Portal.