From Suffrage to Prime Minister: Eight Decades of Milestones for Women in Japanese Politics

Nakayama Masa, Japan’s first female minister, appears third from left in the second row. (© Jiji)

Doi Takako (right) takes questions as leader of the Japan Socialist Party. (© Reuters)

Doi Takako smiles as the JSP wins a major increase in seats at the House of Councillors election on July 23, 1989. (© Jiji)

Koike Yuriko (center) campaigns to become LDP president. (© Reuters)

Koike Yuriko on her first day as Tokyo governor. (© Reuters)

Renhō (center) stands between Tamaki Yūichirō (left) and Maehara Seiji (right) at a joint press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, Tokyo, by Democratic Party leadership candidates on September 14, 2016. (© Nippon.com)

Takaichi (left) and Noda as LDP presidential candidates. (© Reuters)

From left: Takaichi, Kamikawa, and Noda. (© Jiji)