Hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi is set to become Japan's first female prime minister after winning a critical vote in parliament's lower house.

An acolyte of former prime minister Shinzo Abe and an admirer of Britain's Margaret Thatcher, Takaichi received 237 votes in the lower house election to choose the next premier, topping the majority of the 465-seat chamber.

Her victory shatters the glass ceiling in a nation where men still hold overwhelming sway and puts Japan, a close US ally, on a forceful shift to the right.

Her victory comes after her Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan for most of its postwar history, agreed to a coalition deal with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin.

Takaichi will likely be approved by the less-powerful upper house a

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