Japan's Main Opposition Party Elects First Female Leader

Renho Murata recently became the first woman to lead the opposition Democratic Party in Japan. She has served in the country's upper house of Parliament for over ten years and won by a generous amount against her two male competitors. Renho Murata is the third woman to take up a prominent political job in Japan in less than two months which shows the track record of putting women in power is changing. She is going to continue to try to repair the image of the Democratic Party in Japan that has been tarnished since 2011. Gill Steel, an associate professor of politics at Doshisha University in Kyoto said, "Of the three candidates, she was the only one who has any chance of turning around the party's fortunes." The only thing that could possibly haunt Renho Murata and the Democratic Party could be her part Taiwanese heritage; but in her final campaign speech she reassured her supporters that she is proud to be Japanese and loves the country she was born and raised in, Japan.

-Taylor Sikora
http://nyti.ms/2cL6EH5