“My favorite? Not an idol, but the Prime Minister” Why young people are falling into Takaichi fandom - 경향신문

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Prime Minister merchandise being sold in Nara Prefecture, Japan. SNS screengrab

From snacks and manju printed with the Prime Minister’s face to socks, stickers, pens, and stationery. In Japan, products related to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi have been appearing one after another. On the online mall of a souvenir shop in Nara Prefecture, 17 items are listed under a separate category called ‘Sanae-chan goods’. These include cookies and chocolate dango branded with ‘Sanae-chan’, the affectionate nickname for Prime Minister Takaichi, as well as ramen, clear files used like writing mats, and acrylic keychains. A company purchased 3,000 red-and-white manju made to commemorate her inauguration as Prime Minister in one go, and at a hotel that began selling them, 20 boxes sold in a single day.

The phenomenon of liking the Prime Minister and buying related merchandise as if cheering for an idol or celebrity has even been given a name: ‘Sanakatsu’. It combines Takaichi’s given name, ‘Sanae’, with ‘oshi-katsu’, a term for activities that support a favorite figure and involve purchasing related items.

The UK daily the Guardian, on the 21st (local time), looked back on one year since Prime Minister Takaichi took office and analyzed her trajectory, noting her strong popularity among young people. As Japan’s first female prime minister, Takaichi broadened her base by showing a style distinct from existing leaders in a male-dominated political world. The Guardian assessed that her direct manner of speaking and proactive social media(SNS) activity helped her connect with young voters who had been disappointed by traditional, analog-style communication from politicians.

Prime Minister Takaichi prefers posting detailed explanations of policy on X( formerly Twitter·X) over individual media interviews. In her first five months in office, she posted 370 times on X. During the same period, her predecessors as prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba and Fumio Kishida, held 57 and 90 press conferences, respectively. For younger generations accustomed to accessing and sharing politicians’ messages directly on SNS, this approach can make politics feel different from the past.

High support among the young is also evident in this year’s polling. In a joint poll conducted on the 17th and 18th by FNN, part of Fuji TV, and the Sankei Shimbun, approval of the Takaichi cabinet was 62.6% overall and 70.7% among those aged 18 to 29. Although that is lower than the 92.4% support among 18 to 29 year olds found in an FNN survey last December, the pattern of support among the young exceeding the overall average has continued.

How Prime Minister Takaichi captures the interest of younger generations also appears in the realms of everyday taste and pop culture. Japanese media and Bloomberg have reported that the bag and pink pen she uses became hot topics and drew a surge of orders. Moments such as playing drums to a K-pop track with President Lee Jae Myung or taking a selfie with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also drew attention online. Beyond the symbolism of being the first female prime minister, both her forthright stance that does not back down toward China on the diplomatic stage and the approachable side she shows on SNS are being consumed together.

It is difficult to explain interest in Prime Minister Takaichi solely as unilateral enthusiasm from the young. In a survey of 1,000 18-year-olds conducted last May by the Nippon Foundation, 47.7% said they were interested in politics, but responses rating politics as trustworthy and fair were only in the 10% range for each item. This suggests that even amid deep distrust of politics, people can place hopes in a new leader.

Behind the favor shown to Prime Minister Takaichi by younger people lies not only an approachable image but also seriousness as a leader. Genshiro Kawasaki(24), a 24-year-old supporter, told Bloomberg that Takaichi is “really good at marketing herself” and that “young generations are sensitive to politicians’ image strategies.” Another supporter, Miku Dobe(28), said, “I got the impression that Prime Minister Takaichi thinks seriously about Japan.” Analysts say that approaching people in a friendly way through social media while also showing determination as a leader who will guide the nation is translating into favor among the young.

The phenomenon of consuming politicians like idols is not unique to Japan. In New York in the United States, around Zoran Mamdani, who won last year’s mayoral election, fancams and fan art created directly by young supporters spread online. A fancam is content in which videos of idols or celebrities are edited into short clips and shared with music. The US outlet Wired, in an analysis of Mamdani’s campaign on November 5 last year, reported that videos edited to his speeches and rally scenes set to Jay-Z’s ‘Empire State of Mind’, songs from the musical ‘Hamilton’, and music by pop singer Charli XCX spread on SNS. Many of these pieces of content were made not by the campaign but by supporters themselves. Ashley Hinck, a digital media scholar and associate professor at Xavier University who spoke with Wired, explained that young supporters are applying experience learned in online fandoms to politics. In other words, methods used to edit and share idol videos are being used to publicize politicians’ speeches and campaign scenes.

What is notable in Mamdani’s case is that the fandom did not stop at simple online cheering. Wired reported that Mamdani’s campaign expanded contact not only with videos it produced itself but also with creators who were voluntarily making content. The interest generated online also led to volunteering and offline gatherings. Young supporters did not merely relay the candidate’s messages as is; they reworked them with music and editing styles familiar to them and spread them to others. It went beyond simple consumption of merchandise to online creation and participation.

Professor Minako Kubo of Aichi Shukutoku University told the Mainichi Shimbun that the psychological structure of supporting politicians and idols is similar. Searching for and gathering information about a favorite figure, collecting merchandise, and visiting related places are all part of ‘oshi-katsu’, she said. In particular, merchandise becomes a means to express in visible form the feeling of being connected to a favorite figure. Professor Kubo said, “If you frequently see a politician’s everyday life through SNS, the sense of intimacy grows, and exchanges among fans become the driving force that sustains support activities,” while also noting, “However, because affection for a politician can lead to voting, one should look beyond mere liking to examine the politician’s ideas and policies.”