Japan's Takaichi may struggle to soothe voters and markets

In its best result since its founding in 1955, Takaichi's conservative Liberal Democratic Party won a two-thirds majority in Sunday's snap lower house election, according to Japanese media. With the result, Takaichi, 64, managed to capitalise on her strong popularity since taking the helm of a moribund LDP in October and becoming Japan's fifth premier in five years. On Monday the Nikkei 225 briefly jumped more than five percent to pass 57,000 points for the first time, while the yen strengthened against the dollar.