By 2.30pm on Saturday, five days into the shortest election campaign in postwar Japanese history and after half an hour of warm-up by the local Liberal Democratic Party candidate, the 3,000-strong crowd filling the Kanagawa Science Park finally got what it came for.
Sanae Takaichi, arch-conservative, populist and on course for a possible landslide this week, descended the spiral stairs to the stage to whoops, applause and bobbing ranks of mobile phones desperate to put it all on social media.
Japan’s first female prime minister, Takaichi receives personal scrutiny that her predecessors never faced during an election, especially over her appearance. Her choice of campaign trail footwear — almost immediately identified by netizens as a pair of 2020-era champagne-gold Mizuno walking shoes — draws particular admiration.