Beyond the economy, however, the vote is also shaping up as a test of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi herself, with analysts saying the fiercely conservative leader has effectively turned the election into a referendum on her leadership. “She’s trying to make it as a referendum on whether the people accept [her] as a prime minister or not,” said Kazuto Suzuki, director at the Institute of Geoeconomics, a Tokyo-based think tank.
Takaichi has made little effort to downplay the personal stakes. On Jan. 19, she said she was “putting my future as prime minister on this election” and asked voters to decide whether they could entrust the management of the country to her.
