Japan\u2019s incoming prime minister is a heavy metal drummer with an iron will \u2014 that insiders say gives her an in with President Trump.<\/p>\n
Sanae Takaichi is set to become Japan\u2019s first female prime minister<\/a> if she can assemble a parliamentary coalition after being elected head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. <\/a>She is already generating attention for her head-banging background and political idols.\u00a0<\/p>\n She played drums in a heavy metal band while attending Kobe University, rocking out to Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, while becoming a car and motorcycle buff, according to Japanese media reports. Then she did a stint as a broadcaster, before finding her metalhead background was a way to distinguish herself in Japan\u2019s staid political scene. <\/p>\n Japan\u2019s incoming prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, used to play drums in a heavy metal band, and counts herself a fan of Black Sabbath. Kyodo<\/p>\n That\u2019s a bio with enough flair to cause buzz with the Japanese public \u2013 although a split with one of her party\u2019s coalition partners has delayed her ascent, leading to jockeying before the Japanese Diet convenes Oct. 21.<\/p>\n The president has already gushed about Takaichi, 64, calling her recent elevation \u201ctremendous news.\u201d\u00a0She takes a tough stance on immigration, and is considered a \u201cChina hawk\u201d who favors building up Japan\u2019s defenses.<\/p>\n \u201cI think she\u2019s going to get along very well with President Trump. And there\u2019s never been a Japanese Prime Minister that didn\u2019t get along well with the president,\u201d former U.S. ambassador to Japan Sen. Bill Hagerty told The Post.<\/p>\n Takaichi has held up the UK\u2019s Margaret Thatcher as an inspiration. As a student living in the U.S. in the late 1980s she interned for former Colorado Rep. and Democratic presidential candidate Pat Schroeder.<\/p>\n She has drawn controversy with past visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japanese war dead, but which Beijing and Seoul associate with Japanese militarism.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n