Japan’s first female prime minister has taken office, promising to reform Japan’s plateauing economy and to confront China’s militaristic expansion in the Pacific region.

Sanae Takaichi, 64, takes on governance in a country with a powerful history of economic growth, but at the same time, one that is facing an aging population and loss of an innovative edge in the world economy. She heads up the country’s conservative party, which is called the Liberal Democratic Party.

One thing Ms. Takaichi seems uninterested in is interfering with Japan’s glorification of work. The country’s culture of extreme loyalty to one’s employer is seen as a contributing factor to young people refusing to marry and produce families.

Ms. Takaichi explicitly stated, “I will abandon the word ‘work-life balance.’

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