Meet the woman vowing to Make Japan Great Again but serving her foreign masters

Behind Sanae Takaichi’s nationalist swagger lies a country still marching to US orders

When Sanae Takaichi became Japan’s first female prime minister, headlines hailed a “historic moment” – a symbol of progress and national renewal. A conservative firebrand molded in Shinzo Abe’s image, she vowed to “work, work, work” for Japan’s rebirth.

But behind the triumphant rhetoric of self-reliance lies a more complicated reality. Takaichi’s...