Shiori Yamao is a University of Tokyo graduate, former public prosecutor, current Lower House lawmaker and mother. As a force for the opposition, she has been causing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe considerable grief over the past few months.

Yamao was the person who asked him during a debate session if he knew what working Japanese women were earning on average, obligating him to come up with a number on the spot that revealed his ignorance of how average families live. She also publicly schooled him on the meaning of the Constitution. What's refreshing about her style is that not only does she not read from prepared texts, but she demands her interlocutor address what she is saying, meaning they can't rely on their lines without looking feeble.

She did it again on Feb. 29 when she asked about that blog post that went viral, the one written by a Tokyo woman who vented her anger in a stream of invective after failing to secure a day care slot for her child, which means she may have to quit her job. Wielding a sign board with quotes from the blog printed on it, Yamao wondered if the prime minister had read it himself. Caught off-guard again, Abe tried to avoid answering the question by deriding the post, which he said could not be taken seriously since the author was anonymous. To make matters worse, he mistakenly used the word "health center" (hokenjo) instead of "nursery school" (hoikuen).