Sanae Takaichi has made history as Japan’s first female prime minister yet much of the commentary from liberal journalists, scholars and progressive feminists has focused not on her economic and security policies, but on how she interacts with U.S. President Donald Trump. The criticism is revealing and troubling.
I’ve spent over a decade in the United States and frequently work across Europe while based in Tokyo. Takaichi’s diplomatic interactions don't strike me as “selling her womanness” to Trump, as some have claimed.
Nevertheless, images from her meetings with the U.S. president have been manipulated, dissected, hypercriticized and turned into political propaganda to cast her in an unflattering light.
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