Sanae Takaichi

Sanae Takaichi
Sanae Takaichi
	高市早苗
Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 11 September 2019
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Masatoshi Ishida
	In office; 3 September 2014 – 3 August 2017
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Yoshitaka Shindō
Succeeded by	Seiko Noda
Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs
	In office; 26 September 2006 – 26 September 2007
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Yuriko Koike
Succeeded by	Fumio Kishida
Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy
	In office; 26 September 2006 – 26 September 2007
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Iwao Matsuda
Succeeded by	Fumio Kishida
Minister of State for Gender Equality and Social Affairs
	In office; 26 September 2006 – 26 September 2007
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Kuniko Inoguchi
Succeeded by	Yōko Kamikawa
Minister of State for Food Safety
	In office; 26 September 2006 – 26 September 2007
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Iwao Matsuda
Succeeded by	Shinya Izumi
Minister of State for Innovation
	In office; 26 September 2006 – 26 September 2007
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Member of the House of Representatives; for Nara's 2nd district
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 11 September 2005
Preceded by	Makoto Taki
Personal details
Born	7 March 1961; Yamatokōriyama, Nara, Japan
Political party	Independent (Before 1994); New Frontier Party (1994–1996); Liberal Democratic Party (1996–present)
Spouse(s)	Taku Yamamoto
Alma mater	Kobe University
Website	Government website

Sanae Takaichi (高市早苗, Takaichi Sanae, born 7 March 1961) is a conservative Japanese politician.

Background and early career

Born and raised in the city of Nara, Takaichi graduated from to Nara Prefectural Unebi Senior High School for her secondary education, then she received Bachelor of Business Administration from Kobe University in 1984.

She graduated from Matsushita Institute of Government and Management. In 1987, she moved to the United States to work for Democratic U.S. Representative Patricia Schroeder as a Congressional Fellow. When Takaichi returned to Japan on 1989, she gained attention from the mass media as a legislative analyst with experience in the US Congress, and wrote books based on the experience. In 1992, she formed Kansai Hi-Vision Consortium and presided as the first chairperson.

Political rise

In 1993, Takaichi ran as an independent candidate for the House of Representatives of Japan, Nara Prefectural district and won the most votes. She joined the "Liberals" study group of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), led by Koji Kakizawa, which became part of the New Frontier Party.

In 1996, Takaichi ran as sanctioned candidate from New Frontier Party and reelected to the House of Representatives (lower house). However New Frontier Party lost nationally. On November 5, she responded to recruitment from the Secretary-General of LDP Koichi Kato, and, then, joined the LDP. Act of switching the party, two months after winning the election with anti-LDP votes resulted in heavy criticism from the New Frontier Party members.

In the LDP, Takaichi belonged to the Mori Faction (formally, the Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyū-kai) and she served as a Parliamentary Vice Minister for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry under Keizō Obuchi cabinet. She also served as chairman of Education and Science Committee. In 2000, House of Representatives election she was placed in the first position in proportional representation ballot from LDP and easily won her third term. In 2002 she was appointed as the Senior Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry under Junichiro Koizumi.

However, in 2003 lower house election, the first since she switched parties with her own name on the ballot, she lost. In 2004 she took a faculty position at Kinki University. She married Taku Yamamoto who is a fellow member of the House of Representatives.

Governmental positions under Abe I (2006-2007)

Takaichi served 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[1] and Minister of State for Food Safety in the Japanese Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.

Governmental positions under Abe II and III (2014-2017)

On September 3, 2014, Takaichi is selected as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications to replace Yoshitaka Shindō. On August 3, 2017, Takaichi was succeeded by Seiko Noda.

Governmental positions under Abe IV (2019-)

On September 11, 2019, Takaichi is again selected as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications to replace Masatoshi Ishida.

Controversies

Like most members of Abe's Cabinet, and the Prime Minister himself, Takaichi is affiliated to the openly revisionist organization Nippon Kaigi.[2]

As soon as she was named as cabinet minister, a couple of embarrassing stories resurfaced in the international press:

A picture of her together with Kazunari Yamada, the leader of Japan's Neo-Nazi party, in front of Japanese national flag (LDP leader Tomomi Inada also appeared on similar pictures). She denied any link with him and said she wouldn't have accepted the picture had she known Yamada's background.[3]
In 1994, she was shown promoting a controversial book praising Adolf Hitler's electoral talents.[4]

A few weeks later, Takaichi was among the three members of the cabinet to visit the controversial Yasukuni shrine.[5]

gollark: I also don't see why you need a 10D array over just a long 1D one.

gollark: It's probably going to be worse than AES and actual standards like that.

gollark: Please do *not* invent your own cryptography for any serious purposes.

gollark: Anyway, you could just write code for doing so for a 1D array, and then code for filling 10 N-1-dimensional arrays and merging them into a N-dimensional array

gollark: *Why* are you making a 5D array in the first place?

References

Although the term "Youth Affairs" is used in its official English title, the original Japanese title shōshika (少子化) is more aptly translated as "diminishing birth rate issue".
"Abe's reshuffle promotes right-wingers", KoreaJoongangDaily.joins.com; accessed 18 June 2015.
"Neo-Nazi photos pose headache for Shinzo Abe" (The Guardian - 9 Sept. 2014)
"Japan: Adolf Hitler Book Haunts Interior Minister Sanae Takaichi" (Umberto Bacchi, International Business Times, 11 September 2014)
"3 Japan Cabinet ministers visit controversial Yasukuni Shrine a day after PM Abe's offering", Straitstimes.com, 18 October 2014.

External links

Official website (in Japanese)

House of Representatives of Japan
Preceded by Makoto Taki	Member of the House of Representatives for Nara 2nd district 2005–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Yuriko Koike	Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs 2006–2007	Succeeded by Fumio Kishida
Preceded by Iwao Matsuda	Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy 2006–2007	Succeeded by Fumio Kishida
Preceded by Iwao Matsuda	Minister of State for Food Safety 2006–2007	Succeeded by Shinya Izumi
Preceded by Kuniko Inoguchi	Minister of State for Gender Equality and Social Affairs 2006–2007	Succeeded by Yōko Kamikawa
New office	Minister of State for Innovation 2006–2007	Position abolished
Preceded by Yoshitaka Shindō	Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications 2014–2017	Succeeded by Seiko Noda
Preceded by Masatoshi Ishida	Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications 2019–present	Incumbent

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[1] Although the term "Youth Affairs" is used in its official English title, the original Japanese title shōshika (少子化) is more aptly translated as "diminishing birth rate issue".

[2] "Abe's reshuffle promotes right-wingers", KoreaJoongangDaily.joins.com; accessed 18 June 2015.

[3] "Neo-Nazi photos pose headache for Shinzo Abe" (The Guardian - 9 Sept. 2014)

[4] "Japan: Adolf Hitler Book Haunts Interior Minister Sanae Takaichi" (Umberto Bacchi, International Business Times, 11 September 2014)

[5] "3 Japan Cabinet ministers visit controversial Yasukuni Shrine a day after PM Abe's offering", Straitstimes.com, 18 October 2014.