Japan has its first female Prime Minister, and she is not like other Prime Ministers. The 64-year-old ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi rides motorbikes, practises karate, and, most importantly, is a longtime fan of heavy metal.
Last month, before she was elected Prime Minister, Takaichi appeared on Babymetal's Metal Radio, a Tokyo FM show hosted by Babymetal members Su-metal, Moametal and Momometal. The show promises to "unite the world and connect the world through metal" and features interviews with "secret metal" fans.
In the show, Takaichi talks about her love of metal, revealing that it dates back to her early childhood.
"When I was in elementary school, I started listening to Black Sabbath: Paranoid, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, and things like that," says Takaichi [machine translated from Japanese]. "Then, when I got to middle school, Deep Purple came out, and then Burn and Smoke On The Water and so on, and I got into that."
Takaichi, who played bass guitar and keyboards in middle school, was eventually approached by a "delinquent type" who asked her to play keyboards in what she calls a "really crappy band." She took up drums in high school, where she was in a band who played cover songs, including the Rolling Stones' Jumping Jack Flash, before joining an all-female outfit whose repertoire included UFO classics Rock Bottom and Doctor Doctor, plus Rainbow's I Surrender.
"When I get irritated by my husband's choice of words or behaviour, I play the electronic drums after he's gone to bed," says Takaichi. "Burn by Deep Purple is a staple. I play songs like this to let off steam."
Elsewhere in the interview, Takaichi expresses her love of Michael Schenker's classic instrumental Into The Arena, and Narita, the second album by US rockers Riot. She also speaks of her longtime affinity for Iron Maiden, and proclaims her favourite musician to be Japanese star Yoshiki, leader of X Japan.
The entire interview can be heard below (in Japanese).
