Becoming president of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and soon the country’s first female prime minister is the easy part. Sanae Takaichi can rely on a fractured opposition to win a majority of votes in the legislature to become the next prime minister. In a speech following her election as party president, she promised she would give up work-life balance and "work, work, work" to revive Japan, a comment that earned chuckles from her colleagues.

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Although pitching herself as Japan’s Margaret Thatcher, she does not favor Thatcher’s fiscal discipline. Like Thatcher, she is not a healer, and she does not have an encouraging track record on empowering women. She must heal the internal party rift, boost public support, tackle urgent economic issues, and manage the menace of President Donald Trump’s strongarming barrage of demands and threats. The problems she inherits appear intractable, raising concerns about a revolving door at the top reminiscent of the 2006-2012 era, when “one and done” prime ministers ruled.

Read more: What Japan’s First Female Prime Minister Could Mean for the Country’s Gender Politics

Following losses in two straight national elections, the LDP did some soul-searching about what went wrong. The party is divided over Abe Shinzo’s legacy and how to convince the public that it hears their frustration about the slush fund scandals that afflicted his rightwing faction most. Abe loyalists like Takaichi have blocked significant campaign finance reform and accountability initiatives. This “keep calm and carry on”, business-as-usual approach soured the public on the LDP. Over the decades of LDP dominance of Japanese politics since it was established in 1955, voters tolerated endemic corruption because the LDP delivered economic growth. With the economy in........

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