Takaichi has been described as holding hard-line
conservative and
Japanese nationalist views, citing former British prime minister
Margaret Thatcher as a role model and deeply influential on her personal political beliefs. Like Thatcher, she is called the "Iron Lady". Takaichi is a member of
Nippon Kaigi, a far-right ultraconservative organisation that argues for a reinterpretation of Japanese history along
ultranationalist lines.
Taro Kono, another LDP minister and member of the House of Representatives, has said that Takaichi is on the far right of the political spectrum within the LDP. Takaichi has been described as "
far-right" by
Deutsche Welle and the
South China Morning Post, and various sources including
Time magazine, the
Los Angeles Times,
The New York Times,
The Guardian,
Politico,
Foreign Policy and the
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) have described her as "
ultraconservative". She has also been described as an "ultranationalist" by
The Conversation and
Democracy Now!, and as having an "ultranationalist agenda" by Ming Gao of
Lund University.
Immigration Like her fellow candidates in the 2025 LDP leadership election, Takaichi has been described as taking a "hard-line stance" on
immigration.
The New York Times stated that during her leadership campaign "she seized on a wave of
anti-immigrant sentiment". Specifically she has been described as wanting "tighter restrictions on immigration" and employed "anti-immigration rhetoric" during her campaign. During the campaign she called for a "crackdown" on
illegal migration and emphasized that "foreigners must strictly obey" Japanese law, stating that those who overstay their visa or abscond from justice should be treated as harshly as Japanese citizens. She proposed that policies be reconsidered from the ground up, with the aim of establishing an "orderly coexistence" between Japanese citizens and immigrants based on "mutual consideration" in communities. In her campaign manifesto she also proposed establishing an agency to tackle issues such as visa overstays, overtourism, and land purchases by foreign nationals, particularly near defense facilities and strategic assets. On refugees she explicitly stated: "For those who come [to Japan] with financial motives and claim that they are refugees, I'll have you go home." Takaichi supports adoption of a "Comprehensive Economic Security Act" that would establish laws and organizations to prevent foreign students and engineers who come to Japan from nations like China from taking Japanese technology back to their home countries for military purposes.
Economics Takaichi is known for favouring proactive government spending. She supports heavy government investment in critical strategic sectors in what she refers to as "crisis management investment". These include
artificial intelligence,
semiconductors,
nuclear fusion,
biotechnology, and defence. She supports maintaining Shinzo Abe's policy of
Abenomics. During the 2025 LDP leadership election, she said she would consider paying for an economic stimulus plan by issuing
bonds to service the national debt. During her 2021 run for LDP leader, she put forward a three-pronged "Plan to Strengthen the Japanese Economy", also known as "New Abenomics" or "Sanaenomics". The first prong is expansionary
monetary policy, the second prong is "flexible fiscal spending in response to crises," and the third prong is "bold investment in crisis management and growth". The plan places particular emphasis on "bold crisis management and growth investment", which will involve large-scale fiscal spending and the development of legal systems and new economic bonds. Takaichi has advocated for tax increases on corporations. She has considered raising taxes on cash deposits rather than retained earnings, and in September 2021 she estimated that "a 1% tax on corporate cash deposits would increase tax revenue by 2 trillion yen. Even if companies with capital of 100 million yen or less are excluded, tax revenue would increase by 1 trillion yen." She said in December 2020 that proposed legislation to recognize
separate family names for married couples could "destroy the social structure based on family units", and led an LDP group of legislators opposed to the change. Takaichi has supported shutting down media outlets that demonstrate repeated
political bias. Noting a discrepancy in the existing law, which criminalises causing damage to foreign, but not Japanese flags, she proposed and supported a bill to penalize damaging the Japanese flag with "imprisonment for two years or less, or a fine of up to 200,000 yen (about $1,930)".
Foreign policy as she visits Malaysia for the
47th ASEAN Summit. Takaichi, like all other candidates in the 2025 LDP leadership election, supports revising
article nine of the Japanese constitution to include mention of the
Japan Self-Defence Forces. In 2021, she advocated revising the constitution to reposition the Self-Defense Forces as a "National Army", and increasing defense spending to promote the procurement of advanced equipment and research and development. She stated that in the event of war, "it is important to neutralize enemy bases first." She has proposed the adoption of anti-espionage legislation, something also supported by opposition parties such as the
Democratic Party for the People. during the
APEC South Korea 2025, 31 October 2025|leftTakaichi has been critical of Chinese economic practices such as
intellectual property theft, and has voiced support for reducing economic dependence on China. She has argued for deployment of US medium-range missiles to Japan, and the removal of
marine buoys placed by China in waters both countries claim as part of the
Senkaku Islands dispute. In April 2025, she visited Taiwan and met with President
Lai Ching-te. She has repeated Shinzo Abe's statement that a "Taiwan emergency is a Japan emergency." During the
2021 Liberal Democratic Party leadership election, in which she placed third, her stance on China was the most hawkish of any candidate. Takaichi argued the US was unlikely to approve a more favorable extradition agreement, as the US would not accept the
Japanese judicial system's barring of a defense attorney presence during interrogations, and could also weaken its military commitment to Japan. She also argued that changing the SOFA with the US could lead to a change in the SOFA between the
United Nations and Iraq, exposing the
Japanese Iraq Reconstruction and Support Group to Iraqi jurisdiction. On
nuclear weapons policy, she has said "It is contradictory to say that we will adhere to the
Three Non-Nuclear Principles while gaining
deterrence under the US
nuclear umbrella." She has argued for the consideration of
allowing US nuclear weapons into Japanese territory on land and sea in an emergency. In March 2022, she said that "
Ukraine is not a distant issue", pointing to Russian military bases in the
Kuril Islands, as well as China.
Japanese war crimes in World War II Takaichi has been described as holding
revisionist views regarding Japan's conduct during the
Second World War. Takaichi has made multiple visits to
Yasukuni Shrine, which is viewed as
controversial in China and Korea, primarily surrounding its enshrinement of Japanese Second World War-era
Class A war criminals. In the 2021 LDP leadership race, she said she would continue to visit the shrine if elected prime minister, She said, "When we act ambiguously, such as stopping our visits to Yasukuni Shrine midway, the other side
climbs up," using the derogatory Japanese word
tsukeagaru, which means "to take advantage of someone's politeness or kindness and act impudently". She went on to say that continuing to visit the shrine would eventually make "neighbouring countries...look foolish and stop complaining". and
Murayama statements, which issued apologies for
Japanese war crimes, including the use of
comfort women. In an appearance on a television program on 18 August 2002, Takaichi was asked, "Do you think Japan's war after the
Manchurian Incident was a war of self-defence?" to which she replied, "I think it was a war for security." In 2004, Takaichi wrote a column on her website regarding the
Japanese history textbook controversies. She defended recent comments by
Nariaki Nakayama, the
Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) that textbooks were "extremely self-deprecating" and should continue decreasing usage of terms including "
comfort women" and "
forced labor". She wrote that the
Imperial Japanese Armed Forces made that textbooks termed as , while foreign offensives like the
Soviet invasion of Manchuria were termed . She argued against the inclusion by some school textbooks of China's death toll estimate for the
Nanjing Massacre. She recounted her complaint to MEXT against textbooks that included criticism of the government's
Act on National Flag and Anthem and of then–Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine. She said it was "clear" that Japan "intended to wage a war of self-defense". However, in the past she has said "I'm not opposed to a female emperor. I'm opposed to a
matrilineal emperor." Adding "In reality, I imagine it would be difficult for a woman to succeed to the throne." Before finally stating "it would be better to restore the
former imperial families to the imperial family." She later changed her position and is now opposed to female succession. == Personal life ==