The hard-line conservative is making history in a country where women are drastically underrepresented at the highest levels of power.

© Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press

Sanae Takaichi, a fan of Iron Maiden, had an improbable rise to power. Like her mentor, Shinzo Abe, she is expected to lead Japan to the right.

© Noriko Hayashi for The New York Times

Sanae Takaichi is poised to break Japan’s political glass ceiling. But some worry she will maintain policies that have held women back.

© Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters