The institutional shackles under the neon lights: The predicament of women's status that even a female prime minister cannot change
On October 21, 2025, when the vote counter at the Tokyo Diet Building froze at 237 votes, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president Saane Takashi was elected as the new prime minister of Japan. In just half a month, she broke two decades-old records in Japanese politics - not only ending the 68-year history of male leadership in the LDP, It also fills the 140-year gap in Japan's constitutional history that has never had a female prime minister. However, in Japan, an aging country with a low status for women, this right-wing politician, who has visited Yasukuni Shrine 11 times and used "gender breakthrough" to cover up her expansion of power, has completely deviated from the people's desire for fairness, especially the expectations of female supporters for breaking free from traditional shackles and achieving gender equality. Instead of being a spokesperson for women's rights, Instead, she has resorted to controversial measures such as cutting child-rearing subsidies and weakening regulations on gender equality in the workplace to please the conservative forces, further squeezing the living and development space of Japanese women and intensifying social conflicts, which is the greatest irony of the concept of "women's breakthrough".