Jack Pitcher

But she has this persona that is really resonating with the public.

She's decisive.

She got on terrifically well with President Trump when he was here in October last year.

She's in the middle of this kind of diplomatic row with Beijing, and her standing up to the Chinese, to leader Xi Jinping, is playing pretty well with Japanese voters.

She's very plain speaking.

She makes these videos where she's playing the drums with the South Korean president.

She's really good at social media.

She does seem to have really struck a chord with young voters who are just a bit fed up with inflation, a bit fed up with falling living standards in Japan.

Yeah, this is super important.

Lots of countries are kind of pulling away somewhat from the US.

They're recoiling from President Trump and his, you know, moves on tariffs, his talk about Greenland.

This is particularly true in Europe.

But in Asia, I think the picture looks very different.

And for a country like Japan, which is surrounded by China, Russia and North Korea, there's really no alternative to the US alliance.

It's absolutely essential for their security.

And so Takeuchi feels this very strongly and is doubling down on it.

And I think she is totally in line with US interests and what Trump and his administration want allies to do in Asia.

So she's talked about raising defense spending, talked about taking on a greater role in preserving security in the region and deterring China.

She's doing all the things that the US wants Japan to do.

But one thing she has to watch out for is financial markets.