– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

Out of Japan, the country is set to have

its first ever female prime minister.

It's after in the last few minutes,

Sanai Takahichi won the ruling

Conservative Party leadership election.

And these are live pictures from Tokyo

where you can see her there on stage.

She has been talking. Let's go live to

our Tokyo correspondent, Shima Kil. Uh

Shima, history made. What's she been

saying?

A history-making moment here for Japan

as the country is set to have its first

ever female prime minister. A moment I

would say that many Japanese people,

including Japanese women, thought would

never come. Sai Takayichi has gone for

the leadership um of the ruling party

before and she hadn't won. This year was

her time in the limelight. She has long

been um an admirer of Britain's first

ever prime minister, the late Margaret

Thatcher. And now she's ever closer to

um fulfilling that Iron Lady uh

ambition. She's been speaking after uh

the announcement of her victory, saying

a new era has come to the LDP. One would

argue that a new era has come to

Japanese politics who's never had a

woman leader ever before in its history.

She also said that we need to change the

LDP so people's anxiety turns to hope.

Looking there into the difficult times

that Japanese households have been

struggling with, especially with the

cost of living crisis and stagnant a

stagnant economy and stagnant wages. One

of the things that jumped at me is when

she said, "I'm getting rid of the word

work life balance because I plan to work

very hard and I want everyone around me

to work very hard." She says that my

happiness is overshadowed by the

responsibility that I now have and

indeed it is a big responsibility for

the new LDP leader who is likely not

automatically but likely to be confirmed

by parliament. She has to unite a

fractured party. She has to restore uh

the public's uh trust into the LDP that

has ruled the country for most of its

post-war era, but that has really been

marred by a series of scandals and two

very humiliating defeats um that had

them lose power, sorry, lose control in

both houses of parliament. Mr. Akaichi

may be the first ever female prime

minister in a sea of men that control

Japan's politics, but many women voters

will tell you that they don't see her as

a sign of progress because she is a

staunch conservative. For example, she's

long opposed the legislation for women

to keep their maiden name after

marriage. She says this is against

tradition. She is also against same-sex

marriage and hasn't changed her stance

on that. She softened her tone a tone a

little bit when it came to women's

issues during this campaign, saying that

she will as prime minister uh work more

to for child care costs um to alleviate

that um for women to be able to work and

take care of their children. The LDP

veteran is a protig of the late uh Prime

Minister Shinszo Abbey. She's hawkish

when it comes to security. She wants to

revise the country's um pacifist

constitution. So anticipate some

friction on that. She's also a regular

visitor of the controversial Yasukuni

shrine which has which where the Japan's

war dead are buried but also convicted

war criminals. So she is a controversial

figure but right now Japan is set to

have its first ever female prime

minister and that in itself is a

historical moment.

>> Absolutely. Sha live in Tokyo. Thank you

very much.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
prime /praɪm/ B1	adjective - most important or best noun - the best period or condition
minister /ˈmɪnɪstər/ A1	noun - a high-ranking government official
female /ˈfiːmeɪl/ A1	adjective - relating to women or girls noun - a woman or girl
conservative /kənˈsɜːrvətɪv/ B2	adjective - opposed to change and holding traditional values noun - a person who is opposed to change
leader /ˈliːdər/ A2	noun - a person who leads a group or organization
politics /ˈpɑːlətɪks/ B1	noun - the activities involved in governing a country or area
era /ˈɪərə/ B2	noun - a period of time in history
stagnant /ˈstæɡnənt/ C1	adjective - not growing or developing
responsibility /rɪˌspɑːnsəˈbɪləti/ B1	noun - a duty or obligation
trust /trʌst/ A2	noun - belief in the reliability of someone or something verb - to believe in the reliability of someone or something
scandal /ˈskændl/ B2	noun - a situation causing public outrage or embarrassment
defeat /dɪˈfiːt/ B1	noun - failure to win verb - to win against someone or something
control /kənˈtroʊl/ A1	noun - the power to influence or direct behavior verb - to have power over something
tradition /trəˈdɪʃən/ B1	noun - a belief or custom passed down through generations
marriage /ˈmærɪdʒ/ A2	noun - the legal union of two people as partners
issue /ˈɪʃuː/ A2	noun - an important topic or problem to be discussed
child /tʃaɪld/ A1	noun - a young person
care /ker/ A1	noun - the provision of what is necessary for someone verb - to look after someone or something
hawkish /ˈhɔːkɪʃ/ C2	adjective - describing aggressive or warlike foreign policy
security /sɪˈkjʊərəti/ A2	noun - the state of being safe or protected
controversial /ˌkɑːntrəˈvɜːrʃəl/ B2	adjective - causing disagreement or discussion