Takaichi, formerly minister for economic security, succeeds outgoing Shigeru Ishiba as the leader of the Liberal Democratic LDP.
Takaichi is expected to be approved in parliament in about a week and will then become Japan's fifth prime minister in as many years. The ruling LDP has recently lost a lot of power.
64-year-old Takaichi comes from the more traditional part of the party and has, according to a professor at Tokai University in Japan, no interest in promoting "women's rights or equality policy".
Economically, she has the same attitude as former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and advocates his "Abenomics", with monetary policy easing and large fiscal expenditures. She is against same-sex marriage and has repeatedly praised former British leader Margaret Thatcher.
