Japan’s ruling party picked hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi as its head on Saturday, putting her on course to become the country’s first female prime minister in a move set to jolt investors and neighbours.

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has ruled Japan for almost all of the postwar era, elected Takaichi, 64, to regain trust from a public angered by rising prices and drawn to opposition groups promising stimulus and clampdowns on migrants.

A vote in parliament to choose a replacement for outgoing Shigeru Ishiba is expected on October 15. Takaichi is favoured as the ruling coalition has the largest number of seats.

Inherits party in crisis

Takaichi, the only woman among the five LDP candidates, beat a challenge from the more moderate Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, who was bidding to become the youngest modern leader.

A former economic security and internal affairs minister with an expansionary fiscal agenda for the world’s fourth-largest economy, Takaichi takes over a party in crisis.

Various other parties, including the expansionist Democratic Party for the People and the anti-immigration Sanseito, have been steadily luring voters, especially younger ones, away from the LDP.

The LDP and its coalition partner lost their majorities in both houses under Ishiba over the past year, triggering his resignation.

“Recently, I have heard harsh voices from across the country saying we don’t know what the LDP stands for anymore,” Takaichi said in a speech before the second-round vote.

“That sense of urgency drove me. I wanted to turn people’s anxieties about their daily lives and the future into hope.”

Takaichi says her hero is Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister, who offers a starker vision for change than Koizumi and is potentially more disruptive.

An advocate of late premier Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” strategy to boost the economy with aggressive spending and easy monetary policy, she has previously criticised the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) interest rate increases.

Such a spending shift could confuse investors about one of the world’s biggest debt loads.

Naoya Hasegawa, chief bond strategist at Okasan Securities in Tokyo, said Takaichi’s election had weakened the chances of the BOJ raising rates this month, which markets had priced at around a 60 per cent chance before the vote.

Discussed redoing Trump trade deal

Takaichi has also raised the possibility of redoing an investment deal with US President Donald Trump that lowered his punishing tariffs in return for Japanese taxpayer-backed investment.

The US ambassador to Japan, George Glass, congratulated Takaichi, posting on X that he looked forward to strengthening the Japan-US partnership “on every front”.

But her nationalistic positions — such as her regular visits to the Yasukuni shrine to Japan’s war dead, viewed by some Asian countries as a symbol of its past militarism — may rile neighbours like South Korea and China.

South Korea will seek to “cooperate to maintain the positive momentum in South Korea-Japan relations”, President Lee Jae Myung’s office said in a statement.

Takaichi also favours revising Japan’s pacifist postwar constitution and suggested this year that Japan could form a “quasi-security alliance” with Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by China.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te welcomed her election, saying she was a “steadfast friend of Taiwan”.

“It is hoped that under the leadership of the new [LDP] President Takaichi, Taiwan and Japan can deepen their partnership in areas such as economic trade, security, and technological cooperation,” he said in a statement.

If elected prime minister, Takaichi said she would travel overseas more regularly than her predecessor to spread the word that “Japan is Back!”.

“I have thrown away my own work-life balance, and I will work, work, work,” Takaichi said in her victory speech.

Warnings for foreigners

Some of her supporters viewed her selection as a watershed in Japan’s male-dominated politics, though opinion polls suggest her socially conservative positions are favoured more by men than women.

“The fact that a woman was chosen might be seen positively. I think it shows that Japan is truly starting to change and that message is getting across,” 30-year-old company worker Misato Kikuchi said outside Tokyo’s Shimbashi station.

Takaichi must also seek to blunt the rise of Sanseito, which broke into the political mainstream in a July election, appealing to conservative voters disillusioned with the LDP.

Echoing Sanseito’s warnings about foreigners, she kicked off her first official campaign speech with an anecdote about tourists reportedly kicking sacred deer in her hometown of Nara.

Takaichi, whose mother was a police officer, promised to clamp down on rule-breaking visitors and immigrants, who have come to Japan in record numbers in recent years.

“We hope she will … steer Japanese politics in an ‘anti-globalism’ direction to protect national interests and help the people regain prosperity and hope,” Sanseito said in a statement.

In yet another demonstration of solidarity with the flood affected people of Pakistan, China has dispatched an additional consignment of humanitarian relief goods for flood-affected families.

A special relief aircraft weighing 90 tons arrived at Islamabad International Airport today. It carried 700 tents, 16,000 blankets, 1,000 life jackets, and 4,000 sleeping bags.

Earlier, China sent two relief flights carrying 300 tents and 9,000 blankets, underscoring its continued support for Pakistan in times of crisis.

As per the directives of the Prime Minister, NDMA in coordination with relevant government institutions, is ensuring swift distribution of all relief assistance to the affected people.

The Government of Pakistan appreciates China’s timely humanitarian assistance, which reaffirms the strong bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

• Part of school collapsed when students gathered for prayers.
• Evacuation process is still ongoing, says rescue agency official.
• More victims could be found: disaster agency chief. 
  

The death toll in an Indonesian school collapse rose to 17 on Saturday, officials said, as rescuers deployed heavy machinery to recover dozens more victims believed still buried under the rubble.

Part of the multi-storey boarding school collapsed suddenly on Monday as students gathered for afternoon prayers.

Rescuers retrieved two bodies and a body part from the rubble on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 17, National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) operation director Yudhi Bramantyo said in a statement.

“The evacuation process is still ongoing. Debris removal is focused to the north side in an area not integrated with the main structure,” Yudhi said Saturday.

Local search and rescue agency head Nanang Sigit confirmed the updated toll in a separate statement.

Earlier on Saturday, authorities said they had recovered nine bodies on Friday.

Rescuers were searching for 49 people still missing, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) chief Suharyanto said before prior to the retrieval of the latest bodies.

More victims could be found, said Suharyanto, who, like many Indonesians, only goes by one name, as rescuers brought heavy machinery to clear locations where the victims were believed to be buried underneath the rubble.

“After the last victim was found last night, we are focusing on a massive cleanup, with heavy equipment entering the collapsed areas,” he said, as reported by broadcaster Kompas TV.

The school collapse was so violent that it sent tremors across the neighbourhood, according to residents.

Investigators have been looking into the cause of the collapse, but initial signs pointed to substandard construction, experts have said.

The rescue operation was complex because vibrations in one place could affect other areas, officials said.

But the families of the missing agreed on Thursday for heavy equipment to be used, after the 72-hour “golden period” for the best chance of survival came to an end.

The rescue operation was complicated by an earthquake that struck overnight on Tuesday, briefly halting the search.