Japan has elected its first female Prime Minister. Let’s take a look at Japan’s new leader and whether the “Sanae Takaichi censorship” fears blowing up on Twitter have any real basis.
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Japan Gets Its First Female Prime Minister! Who Is Sanae Takaichi?
Last month, Japan’s “otaku prime minister” Shigeru Ishiba announced he was stepping down as Prime Minister. Immediately, several politicians threw their hats into the ring for election as leader of Japan’s leading Liberal Democratic Party. Lots of public debates ensued, and in the end, Sanae Takaichi was elected party president.
Who is Sanae Takaichi? Here is some information for you!
- She was born in 1961 in Nara Prefecture. She served as a lawmaker with the LDP since 1993 and has held several cabinet posts during that time.
- Sanae Takaichi is firmly right-wing, holding views similar to Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated by a man angry at the politician’s ties to the Unification Church.
- She is conservative on social issues, including the burning question as to whether Japanese couples should be allowed to have different family names. Currently one person must take the family name of the other upon marriage.
- The candidate supports revising Article 9 of Japan’s constitution, which currently prohibits Japan from maintaining a standing military. This makes Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, the 8th largest in the world based on annual budget, technically unconstitutional.
- In her younger years, Sanae Takaichi played in a heavy metal band and rode a Suzuki Katana motorcycle. She’s also a “car nerd” and loves the Toyota Supra.
Why Did it Take So Long for Japan to Get Its First Female Prime Minister?
Each year, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report ranks 148 countries on gender equality. I’m not a fan of the report because it seems to be written from the point of view of Northern Europe, with the entire ranking seemingly being a measure of how closely other countries mirror gender relations in Scandinavia. Imagine if Japan made a worldwide ranking on how well other countries practice Confucian-style filial piety, and put Japan, South Korea, and China at the top of the list, with all other countries below them?
The top countries in the 2025 gender ranking predictably include Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Germany is #9, Spain is #12, and Canada is #32. The United States comes in at #42.
This year, Japan ranks #118 against all other nations in gender equality. This is lower than South Korea (#101) and Cambodia (#106) but higher than India (#132) and Saudi Arabia (#133).
The report looks at many factors, including workforce participation, literacy rates, number of years of education attained, as well as participation in politics and business at higher levels. I’m convinced that “has never had a female Prime Minister” was something holding Japan back in the ranking. But with the election of Sanae Takaichi, I predict the country will shoot up in the rankings next year.
I’d like to point out a few things. Education for women in Japan is among the highest in the world, and literacy rates in Japan are 99% or higher. One reason women might make less of a mark in the workplace is that, in low inflation Japan, it’s not impossible for a family to survive on just one income. But women who do want high-powered careers can find them, especially in cities.
It’s also worth noting that Japan seems to have 1/60th the number of reported rapes compared with Europe. Women can basically walk anywhere alone and feel safe, even in Tokyo’s Kabuki-cho region. That has to count for something.
What Was the Sanae Takaichi Censorship Drama on Twitter?
Last night, I opened my Twitter account to see that the term BL規制 (Boy’s Love censorship) was trending. I clicked and saw hundreds of Japanese fans freaking out about the possibility of the government introducing censorship into their beloved 18+ manga. Was there any basis to this, or was it just fans reacting to nothing?
Everything seemed to start with this story summary by Twitter. It appears that after hearing official word of Sanae Takaichi’s election as LDP president, some fans started going through all her past statements looking for something to get angry about. They focused on a comment she had made many years ago that BL-related content “should be subject to restrictions.” The Japanese word that was trending was 淫夢 inmu, which means “lewd dream.” The word was originally a reference to a specific gay porn video from the early 2000s, but today the word 淫無系 inmu-kei is a general label for anything BL-adjacent.
What Did Japanese Twitter Users Say About the Sanae Takaichi Censorship Rumors?
X users were quick to react to the rumor that BL and 18+ content could be censored, while others pointed out that no statements from the politician had been made, and people were most likely overreacting.
Hey, stop trying to censor what I love! But even if you try, it won’t matter, because my brain runs entirely on BL and 18+ manga!
Every country that has censored sexual content has, without exception, seen an increase in sex crimes.
“BL censorship” is trending on Twitter, and tweets are popping up linking it to Sanae Takaichi, but where’s the primary source? Where’s this information even coming from?
This appears to be where the rumor started, but it doesn’t actually say anything about regulating BL. It literally says there will be no regulation of 18+ comics based on character age. This is all fake news.
Honestly, taking unverified info like this at face value just shows people on X are bad at telling real news from rumors. You guys are all bottom-tier information users and should be ashamed.
There’s no way you can regulate this kind of content. It’s been out in the open for 25 years, so of course it’s not going anywhere.
And if we start down that path, we’d have to regulate BL books featuring police officers too, since they could interfere with their professional duties.
Thanks for reading this blog post about the election of Sanae Takaichi as Japan’s first female Prime Minister, and the strange rumors about censorship that were spreading on Twitter yesterday. What do you think about the reaction to the subject by Japanese fans?
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