Takaichi Becomes Japan's First Female Prime Minister

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00:00Let's go to where the news actually is this morning. That, of course, is in Japan, as you suggested.

00:04Tsunaya Takeishi has been voted in as Japan's first female prime minister,

00:08her appointment marking a watershed moment for the nation's male-dominated society.

00:13Bloomer's John Herskovitz joins us from Tokyo.

00:15John, just walk us through the next steps here.

00:18Japan's first female prime minister, what happens from here?

00:22What we're going to see over the next few hours is the new prime minister, Takeishi,

00:27is going to be naming her cabinet.

00:28So we'll see how she balances the factions, the powers within her ruling Liberal Democratic Party,

00:35to make these appointments.

00:37And then it's forming a stable government.

00:40The LDP has a new coalition partner in Isshin, or the Japan Innovation Party,

00:45an Osaka-based party, and some of its priorities that it wants could be difficult.

00:52It's trying to get a temporary suspension of sales tax on groceries, food items,

00:58and it's also pushing for a reduction in the number of members of parliament.

01:03These things seem to have good, broad public support, but getting them through is going to be difficult.

01:10And also with Isshin, the LDP is still short of a majority of about two seats in the powerful lower house,

01:17so they're going to need help to get legislation done.

01:20And all of the things which brought down the government of former prime minister Isshin is still there.

01:26Rising prices are a concern.

01:28The tariffs imposed by the U.S. are still a concern.

01:32And that's just on the domestic front.

01:35On the international front, there are big summits coming up.

01:37The ASEAN summit, the APEC summit in South Korea.

01:41President Trump is supposed to be coming to Japan next week.

01:44Enormous challenges await.

01:46And Takechi is seen as an ultra-conservative.

01:50This will be difficult for some of the neighbors in Asia to swallow.

01:54South Korea is watching with a great deal of caution, as is China,

01:58to see if she is really going to embrace some of these nationalistic policies.

02:03So the challenges are there domestically.

02:06They're there internationally.

02:08And the lingering problems that were troublesome for the previous government are still there as well.