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Japan's first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is prepared to go big or go home. Four months since taking office, she enjoys high approval ratings, but her party does not. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Tokyo that Takaichi has vowed to secure a stronger mandate through snap elections on Sunday, and if her coalition fails to win a majority, she says she will step down.
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ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: Packed crowds greeted Prime Minister Takaichi at a weekend rally outside Tokyo. Polls have predicted she could win a decisive majority in the lower house of Parliament. After the rally, 50-year-old Koichi Sato leaves with his family. He says he switched from supporting a liberal opposition party to the conservative ruling party because he's worried about global instability, and he thinks Takaichi can address that.
KOICHI SATO: (Through interpreter) In 10 or 20 years, our children will still have a future ahead of them. So I want Japan to be a place where they can live and feel safe.
KUHN: Another supporter, Manami Itoga, says she didn't pay much attention to politics before Takaichi became prime minister. Just weeks after she took office, Takaichi's comments about Taiwan triggered a diplomatic spat with China. But Itoga says she's on the same page as Takaichi.
MANAMI ITOGA: (Through interpreter) I'm worried that Japan will somehow be taken over by Chinese people or something like that because the number of Chinese people here is increasing rapidly. Things like that are circulating on Instagram and other social media, aren't they?
KUHN: Takaichi is trying to win back voters who switched their support from her conservative party, called the Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, to even more right-wing parties, including the populist Sanseito Party.
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SOHEI KAMIYA: (Speaking Japanese).
KUHN: Sanseito's leader, Sohei Kamiya, stood atop a van at a recent rally in downtown Tokyo. He advocates a Japan-first agenda, restricting immigration, opposing same-sex marriage and mandatory vaccinations. Kyodo News agency politics editor Masahiko Hisae says that anxiety about perceived security threats and widening income disparities are moving Japan's politics in the same direction as other countries.
MASAHIKO HISAE: (Through interpreter) These factors caused the entire political spectrum, including the LDP and most Japanese, to shift from the middle slightly toward the right.
KUHN: Hisae says Takaichi does not have a strong base within her party, but she's trying to leverage her public popularity to increase her power through the election.
HISAE: (Through interpreter) If the LDP wins by a large margin, she will consider it a full mandate, a blank check, and Takaichi may embark on bold policies.
KUHN: Takaichi said she would do that when she explained to reporters last month why she's calling snap elections.
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PRIME MINISTER SANAE TAKAICHI: (Through interpreter) I want to resolutely take up challenges that include bold policies and reforms that could split public opinion.
KUHN: Those controversial policies could include revising Japan's post-war constitution, which renounces the right to wage war and reconsidering its long-standing policy against having or sharing nuclear weapons. Whether Takaichi can pull off such sweeping changes, Masahiko Hisae says, will depend in part on how her popularity holds up. Hisae argues that Japan's public support for Takaichi is not solid like bedrock but, instead, shifting like a layer of sand. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Tokyo.
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