Sanae Takaichi celebrates in Tokyo after winning the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election on October 4. Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool/Getty Images

A staunchly conservative politician with a penchant for heavy metal is poised to make history on Tuesday as Japan’s first female prime minister.

Sanae Takaichi’s expected accession to the role, just days ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to Asia, is a landmark moment for Japan – a historically patriarchal country with deep-rooted gender norms, where both politics and workplaces remain dominated by older men.

The road to the premiership was all but cleared for Takaichi on Monday night when her ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – which, despite its name, is conservative – formally joined forces with the opposition Nippon Ishin

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