Polls suggest 'sanakatsu', roughly translated as 'sanamania', can help give Japan's first female prime minister a decisive mandate in Sunday's general election and unleash the spending plans she has promised will jolt the country's moribund economy.

Backed by her personal popularity, her ruling coalition could capture as many as 300 seats in the 465-seat lower house, polls this week showed, a remarkable turnaround given her predecessor resigned after losing control of both chambers in ballots over the last 15 months.

What's perhaps even more surprising is the appeal of the staunchly conservative leader with voters under 30, estimated by one recent poll at over 90%. Her overall popularity stands at around 60%.

Takanori Kobayashi, a director at Hamano, which makes the $900 black leather bag Takaichi often carries, said he was stunned by young buyers driving a nine-month backlog.

There has been a similar online buzz around the pink ballpoint pen she uses to scribble notes in parliament and the shrimp rice crackers she was seen clutching while riding a train.

Social Media Savvy

Takaichi has built a social media following that dwarfs those of her rivals, both inside her ruling Liberal Democratic Party and across the opposition. She has about 2.6 million followers on X, compared with around 64,000 for Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition party.

Takaichi's personal approval ratings are almost double that of the LDP, traditionally a male-dominated party, according to a poll released on Monday by public broadcaster NHK.

Her viral posts stand out in Japan's usually staid politics, such as clips of her drumming to the hit song Golden from Netflix's K-Pop Demon Hunters with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, or serenading Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni with 'Happy Birthday' in Italian.

'Power Of Personality'

Some analysts question whether enough of the youth the prime minister has attracted will turn out to deliver the landslide that polls predict she will win on Sunday. Younger people have historically been less likely to vote than older generations that have underpinned the LDP's near unbroken post-war rule.

But even a modest win would underline how her personal appeal has single-handedly revived the fortunes of a party whose long grip on power was slipping fast, said David Boling, a principal at The Asia Group, a strategic advisory firm.

(With inputs from Reuters)