Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was on course for a thumping victory in snap elections on Sunday, a result that could however rile China and worry financial markets.
Capitalising on her honeymoon start as Japan's first woman premier, Takaichi's ruling bloc looked to have secured a two-thirds majority in the lower house, according to media estimates.
If confirmed, it would be the best result for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since elections in 2017 under Takaichi's mentor, assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
The LDP alone was seen winning about 300 of the 465 seats up for grabs, up from 198, and regaining a majority -- and potentially a super-majority on its own without its junior partner, the Japan Innovation Party (JIP).
"We received (voter) backing for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's responsible, proactive fiscal policies and a strengthening of national defence capabilities," LDP secretary general Shunichi Suzuki told media.
The new Centrist Reform Alliance of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) and the LDP's previous partner Komeito looked to have lost more than two-thirds of its 167 seats.
The anti-immigration Sanseito party was projected to have increased its seats from two to between five and 14, broadcaster NHK said.
A hit with voters
Takaichi has injected new life into the LDP, which has governed Japan almost non-stop for decades but which has shed support in recent elections because of unhappiness about rising prices and corruption.
A heavy metal drummer in her youth and an admirer of Britain's "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher, Takaichi was on the ultra-conservative fringe of the LDP when she became party chief and prime minister in October.
She has defied pessimists to be a hit with voters, especially young ones, with fans lapping up everything from her handbag to her jamming to a K-pop song with South Korea's president.
She also pulled out all the stops to welcome US President Donald Trump shortly after she took office.
Two days before the polls, Trump endorsed Takaichi as a "strong, powerful, and wise Leader, and one that truly loves her Country".
But she will have to deliver on the economy and inflation, which contributed to the demise of her two predecessors, Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba.
"With prices rising like this, what matters most to me is what policies they'll adopt to deal with inflation," Chika Sakamoto, 50, told AFP at a voting station in a snowy Tokyo on Sunday.
"Prices for just about everything are really going up, but incomes aren't rising much, so our disposable income is shrinking," she said.
Pandas and public debt
However, Takaichi has not had everything her own way, particularly with regard to worries about her stewardship of the public finances of Asia's number-two economy.
She followed up a $135 billion stimulus package aimed at easing the pain of inflation -- a big cause of voter discontent -- with a campaign promise to suspend a consumption tax on food.
Japan's debt is more than twice the size of the entire economy, and in recent weeks yields on long-dated bonds have hit record highs, causing jitters worldwide.
"Various parties are proposing policies like abolishing the consumption tax. While that might be fine for now, I'm very worried about whether such measures are truly responsible for the generations that come after us," voter Taku Sakamoto, 49, told AFP.
"We have consistently stressed the importance of responsible and proactive fiscal policy," Takaichi insisted late Sunday.
Her election triumph may also cause consternation in Beijing.
Barely two weeks in office, Takaichi -- seen before assuming the premiership as a China hawk -- suggested that Japan could intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take self-ruled Taiwan by force.
China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious with her unscripted remarks.
It summoned Tokyo's ambassador, warned its citizens against visiting Japan and conducted joint air drills with Russia. Japan's last two pandas were even returned to China last month.
Margarita Estevez-Abe, associate professor of political science at Syracuse University, said the China episode raised Takaichi's popularity even more.
"Now she doesn't have to worry about any elections until 2028, when the next upper house elections will take place," Estevez-Abe told AFP before the polls.
"So the best scenario for Japan is that Takaichi kind of takes a deep breath and focuses on amending the relationship with China."
Meanwhile AFP adds:
Sanae Takaichi, a staunch conservative who admires Margaret Thatcher, entrenched her leadership on Sunday four months after becoming Japan's first woman prime minister, but she has shown little appetite for framing it around gender.
Instead, it is her hardline stance on China, workaholic reputation and deft touch, especially with the young, that have shaped her still fledgling premiership and won endorsement from US President Donald Trump.
Takaichi, 64, looked to have won a resounding victory in snap lower house elections on Sunday, likely with a handy two-thirds majority for her ruling bloc that will put her in a powerful position to push through her legislative agenda.
A hawk on defence and economic security, she became Japan's fifth leader in as many years after winning the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership in October.
She inherited a struggling LDP that voters had deserted en masse because of inflation, a slush fund scandal and the advent of the populist, anti-immigration Sanseito party.
True to her reputation as an ultraconservative, Takaichi as prime minister has sounded tough on immigration and has not shied away from incurring the wrath of China.
She suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if China ever launched an attack on Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as part of its territory.
- Vocal critic -
The remark sparked a diplomatic row, with China announcing in January a broad ban on the export to Japan of "dual-use" goods with potential military applications.
Beijing has also reportedly been choking off exports of the rare earth products crucial for making everything from electric cars to missiles.
It was not the first time Takaichi has been on the wrong side of China.
As a former economic security minister, she was a vocal critic of Beijing and its military build-up in the Asia-Pacific.
She has been supportive of Taiwan, saying during a visit in April that it was "crucial" to strengthen security cooperation between Taipei and Tokyo.
She has also been a regular visitor to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours convicted war criminals along with 2.5 million war dead and is seen by Asian nations as a symbol of Japan's militarist past.
- Heavy metal and gifts for Trump -
Once a drummer in a college heavy metal band, she put her musical skills to full use last month when she played two K-pop songs during a session with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
Official footage of a smiling Takaichi drumming energetically with Lee led to widespread praise online, with some so surprised they wondered if the clip was AI-generated.
Echoing the playbook of her mentor, the assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe, she wasted no time after taking office in courting Trump, showering him with praise and gifts ranging from a golf bag and putter to American beef.
While declaring the late British prime minister Thatcher as her political idol, she has so far shown little sign of leveraging her gender to attract support.
Takaichi's views on gender in fact put her on the right of an already conservative LDP.
She opposes revising a 19th century law requiring married couples to share the same surname, a rule that overwhelmingly results in women taking their husband's name.
She has been married twice to the same man, a former member of parliament. Takaichi took his name during the first marriage. In the second, he took hers.
Despite her campaign promise to improve the gender balance in her administration to "Nordic" levels, she appointed just two other women to her 19-strong cabinet.
Japan ranked 118 out of 148 in the World Economic Forum's 2025 Gender Gap Report, chiefly because of the under-representation of women in government.
She supports aggressive monetary easing and big fiscal spending, echoing the "Abenomics" of her mentor which, if implemented again, could rattle markets.
Takaichi has so far lived up to a vow she made after being elected LDP president in October: "I shall work, work, work, work and work."
She said in November she only sleeps between two and four hours every night, having raised eyebrows by arranging a 3:00 am staff meeting.