Watch: Old Video Of Japan's Next PM Belting Out Rock Anthem On TV Is Viral

As Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) rallies behind Sanae Takaichi to become the country's next prime minister, a video from nearly a decade ago has resurfaced showing the conservative leader singing X Japan's classic rock anthem "Rusty Nail" on national television.

The clip, filmed in 2016 on a karaoke show, has been widely shared across Japanese social media this week.

Fuji TV's headline introducing Takaichi Sanae as the first female leader of the LDP notes that she is a Hanshin Tigers fan and also mentions the time she sang an X Japan song on a TV show (shown in this video).pic.twitter.com/85y5M2kkHw https://t.co/Hq0nfqcYhj

— Jeffrey J. Hall 🇯🇵🇺🇸 (@mrjeffu) October 4, 2025

X Japan, the band whose song she performed, is one of the country's most influential rock groups known for blending symphonic ballads with high-speed metal. Their 1994 single "Rusty Nail" remains a fan favourite.

A lifelong heavy metal enthusiast, 63-year-old Takaichi once played drums in a college band and still keeps an electric drum kit at home in Nara. She has cited Deep Purple's Burn and Iron Maiden's Run to the Hills among her favourite songs. "To be honest, I wish I could go out for karaoke, but I've been reining myself in these past years," she said in an earlier television interview.

A staunch nationalist and pro-stimulus advocate, Takaichi's rise marks a potential turning point for a country that has never had a female leader.

Takaichi's elevation as party leader is being read as the LDP's attempt to consolidate its conservative base and win back younger voters who have drifted toward smaller right-wing and populist movements, such as the Sanseito Party.

"The goal is achieving economic growth, not fiscal health," she said during a recent policy debate.

Foreign policy will be another early test. Reports suggest that US President Donald Trump, during an upcoming Asia tour in late October, may make a stop in Tokyo - setting the stage for Takaichi's first major diplomatic engagement.

Born in 1961 in Nara, Takaichi was raised in a modest household. Her father worked as a salesman, her mother in the local police force. She studied business management at Kobe University before joining the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management.

Her first job was as a television news anchor, a brief stint before she entered politics. She won her first election in 1993 as an independent, during a period of deep political fragmentation when the LDP temporarily lost power.