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本最具权势的女性政治家、执政党最为公众熟知的人物莲舫(Renho)说，世界第二大经济体日本若想解决企业高层管理者和高级别政治家中女性数量不足的问题，就必需执行新的法律。
European Pressphoto Agency
莲舫有着一半台湾血统。她曾是一位模特，也做过电视新闻主播。
这位只有一个单名的42岁政治家正动摇着古板保守的日本政坛，也动摇着自己所在的日本民主党。甚至有许多专家在想，她能否成为日本历史上第一位女首相。
在一大堆西装革履的六十多岁男性政治家中，身材纤细小巧、留着一头标志性短发、身穿白色外套的莲舫显得格外与众不同。另外，在一个看重家族传承的国家，她身上还有着一半台湾血统。
她也有一些与众不同的政治主张：提倡妇女和儿童的权利。比如，莲舫支持婚后的夫妻双方保留各自姓氏。根据现行法律，一对夫妻必须选择任意一方的姓氏，而往往是妻子放弃娘家姓氏。
不过她也有谨小慎微的一面。例如她就不愿支持颇具争议的外国人在地方选举中的选举权。莲舫在经济问题上的立场也不强硬。倒是身为行政改革大臣，莲舫对政府开支浪费行为的处理为她树立了名声。她尤其以对官僚和其他目标尖锐而迅速的质问而闻名。
她最为人"津津乐道"的言论是对一个耗费了数年才组装的下一代超级计算机项目进行的痛批。"做第二名又怎么了？"她质问说，令那些认为日本应该处于科技最前沿的工程师和官僚们大跌眼镜。这番话引起了如此强烈的反响，以至于她6月份时出了一本书，名字就叫《我们必须要当第一吗？》。
批评人士说，莲舫只是个爱出风头不干实事的人。政治分析师森田实(Minoru Morita)说，人们不把她看作是一位重要政治家，她是个媒体名人。
莲舫是个政坛新手。她曾是一位模特，也做过电视新闻主播。2004年7月她以日本民主党党员的身份首次当选议员。但她已经积聚了大量人气。
莲舫在仕途上的平步青云正值日本勉强屈服于几乎缺失女性高管和政治家的现状之际。在一项对议会中女性代表状况的全球调查中，日本排在第92位。据位于瑞士日内瓦的各国议会联盟(Inter-Parliamentary Union)的数据，日本众议院中女性议员仅占11.3%。
在企业界，形势则更加严峻：据商业出版社东洋经济新报社(Toyo Keizai)的数据，去年，上市日本公司中女性仅占高管人数的1.2%。
在缺乏女性榜样的情况下，莲舫在很多日本女性中产生了共鸣。现年34岁的翻译冈元凉子(Ryoko Okamoto)说，我认为在政界看到一位充满活力的女性非常好。
莲舫说，应该有更多的女性在社会上扮演重要的角色。她还说，她们的才能尚未完全发挥，这对日本来说是个问题。政治家们需要努力在日托和养育孩子方面提供支持。
她说，目前自己没有当首相的想法，不过她并不排除有这种可能。她还说，无论是男是女，有才能的人应该成为首相。
她批评日本更换领导人的速度就像"回转寿司"一样。日本四年内已经换了五位首相。她说，稳定的政府是强大的领导力所必需的。
她还说，我认为菅直人应该继续担任首相，我们应该团结起来。美国的领导人很有领袖魅力、强劲有力，比如奥巴马。而日本的领导人则需要拥有协调和合作的能力。
莲舫说，她的主要任务之一是帮助稳定政府。执政党日本民主党在上个月的选举中大败，该党把持续执政半个多世纪的自由民主党赶下台、控制众议院还不到10个月。
莲舫获得的支持不断增多，这主要得益于Twitter和全球流媒体直播网站Ustream的强大。在Twitter上，她有逾15.8万关注者(follower)，她常常发贴说午餐吃了什么，以及自己13岁龙凤胎的情况。
她在Twitter的一个贴子中说，我刚刚发现儿子书包里的运动服很脏。为什么这么脏？我想知道体育课上发生了什么事。
莲舫说，使用Twitter的议员仍然很少。没有多少政治家使用Ustream向大众宣讲、传达他们的想法，这真是一种浪费。
Mariko Sanchanta / Miho Inada
（更新完成）
Renho, Japan's most powerful female politician and the ruling party's most recognizable face, says the world's second-biggest economy has to implement fresh laws if it wants to redress its dearth of high-ranking female executives and politicians.
'We need to change laws. Before doing so, we should change mindset of men and people of a certain age and older,' Renho said, in her first interview with the print media since upper house elections in July, in which she earned a record 1.7 million votes and became the youngest member of Prime Minister Naoto Kan's cabinet.
The 42-year-old politician, who goes by a single name, is shaking up the staid world of Japanese politics and her own Democratic Party of Japan, and has many pundits wondering whether she could become Japan's first female prime minister.
Rehno -- whippet-thin, with trademark short hair and white jackets -- stands out in a sea of somber-suited, 60-something male politicians. She also is half-Taiwanese and half-Japanese, in a country that favors members of family dynasties.
She has some standout political positions as well, advocating for women's and children's rights. Renho, for example, supports allowing married couples to have separate last names. Under the current law, a couple must chose the name of either one, with the woman often giving up her maiden name.
But she can be cautious, too. She is unwilling, for instance, to come out in favor of controversial voting rights for foreigners in local elections. Renho also hasn't taken a strong position on economic issues. Instead, she has built a reputation, in her role as minister for administrative reform, for going after wasteful spending in government. She is particularly known for her sharp, rapid-fire questioning of bureaucrats and other targets.
Her most infamous comment slammed a next-generation supercomputer project that had taken years to put together: 'What's wrong with being No. 2?' she demanded, rattling engineers and bureaucrats who believe Japan should be at the forefront of technology. The comment caused such a stir that she published a book in June with the title: 'Do We Have to Be No. 1?'
Critics say Renho is all style with little substance. 'People do not view her as a significant politician. She is a media celebrity,' says Minoru Morita, a political analyst.
Renho is a political neophyte. She is a former model (pictures of her covered in soap suds and nothing else were an Internet hit in Japan) and TV news anchor. She was first elected to parliament in July 2004, as a member of the DPJ. But she has built up massive support.
Renho's ascent to power comes as Japan struggles to come to terms with its near-absence of female executives and politicians. Japan ranks 92nd out of a global survey of female representation in parliament. Just 11.3% of politicians in the Japanese lower house of parliament are women, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, based in Geneva Switzerland.
In the corporate world, the situation is even more dire: Women made up just 1.2% of senior executives at listed Japanese companies last year, according to Toyo Keizai, a business publisher.
With female role models scarce, Renho has resonated with many Japanese women. 'I think it's great to see a dynamic woman in politics,' said Ryoko Okamoto, 34, an interpreter.
More women should have prominent roles in society, Renho said. 'Their talents are not fully untilized yet, which is a problem for this nation,' she added. 'Politicians need to work to provide day-care and child-rearing support.'
Renho has no aspirations right now to become prime minister, she said, but she doesn't rule out the possibility. 'Whether the person is man or woman,' she added, 'the one with talent should become prime minister.'
She criticized Japan, on its fifth prime minister in four years, for changing its leader as often as 'sushi on conveyor belts.' She said a stable government is necessary for strong leadership.
'I think Mr. Kan should stay and we should be united,' Renho added. 'Leaders in the U.S. are charismatic and strong, like President Obama. But leaders in Japan are required to have the ability to coordinate and cooperate.'
Renho said one of her main missions is to help stabilize the government. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan suffered a bruising defeat in elections last month, scarcely 10 months after the party took control of the lower house of parliament and ousted the Liberal Democratic Party after more than half a century of near-uninterrupted rule.
Support for Renho has grown thanks largely to the power of Twitter and Ustream, the global live-streaming site. On Twitter, she has more than 158,000 followers, and regularly tweets about what she eats for lunch and her 13-year-old twins, one a boy and one a girl.
'I just found gym clothes balled up in my son's school bag. Why so dirty? I wonder what happened in the P.E. class,' she wrote in one tweet.
'The number of legislators who tweet is still small. Not many politicians use Ustream to send out their speeches on the street, as well as their messages,' Ms. Renho says. 'It's such a waste.'
Mariko Sanchanta / Miho Inada
'We need to change laws. Before doing so, we should change mindset of men and people of a certain age and older,' Renho said, in her first interview with the print media since upper house elections in July, in which she earned a record 1.7 million votes and became the youngest member of Prime Minister Naoto Kan's cabinet.
The 42-year-old politician, who goes by a single name, is shaking up the staid world of Japanese politics and her own Democratic Party of Japan, and has many pundits wondering whether she could become Japan's first female prime minister.
Rehno -- whippet-thin, with trademark short hair and white jackets -- stands out in a sea of somber-suited, 60-something male politicians. She also is half-Taiwanese and half-Japanese, in a country that favors members of family dynasties.
She has some standout political positions as well, advocating for women's and children's rights. Renho, for example, supports allowing married couples to have separate last names. Under the current law, a couple must chose the name of either one, with the woman often giving up her maiden name.
But she can be cautious, too. She is unwilling, for instance, to come out in favor of controversial voting rights for foreigners in local elections. Renho also hasn't taken a strong position on economic issues. Instead, she has built a reputation, in her role as minister for administrative reform, for going after wasteful spending in government. She is particularly known for her sharp, rapid-fire questioning of bureaucrats and other targets.
Her most infamous comment slammed a next-generation supercomputer project that had taken years to put together: 'What's wrong with being No. 2?' she demanded, rattling engineers and bureaucrats who believe Japan should be at the forefront of technology. The comment caused such a stir that she published a book in June with the title: 'Do We Have to Be No. 1?'
Critics say Renho is all style with little substance. 'People do not view her as a significant politician. She is a media celebrity,' says Minoru Morita, a political analyst.
Renho is a political neophyte. She is a former model (pictures of her covered in soap suds and nothing else were an Internet hit in Japan) and TV news anchor. She was first elected to parliament in July 2004, as a member of the DPJ. But she has built up massive support.
Renho's ascent to power comes as Japan struggles to come to terms with its near-absence of female executives and politicians. Japan ranks 92nd out of a global survey of female representation in parliament. Just 11.3% of politicians in the Japanese lower house of parliament are women, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, based in Geneva Switzerland.
In the corporate world, the situation is even more dire: Women made up just 1.2% of senior executives at listed Japanese companies last year, according to Toyo Keizai, a business publisher.
With female role models scarce, Renho has resonated with many Japanese women. 'I think it's great to see a dynamic woman in politics,' said Ryoko Okamoto, 34, an interpreter.
More women should have prominent roles in society, Renho said. 'Their talents are not fully untilized yet, which is a problem for this nation,' she added. 'Politicians need to work to provide day-care and child-rearing support.'
Renho has no aspirations right now to become prime minister, she said, but she doesn't rule out the possibility. 'Whether the person is man or woman,' she added, 'the one with talent should become prime minister.'
She criticized Japan, on its fifth prime minister in four years, for changing its leader as often as 'sushi on conveyor belts.' She said a stable government is necessary for strong leadership.
'I think Mr. Kan should stay and we should be united,' Renho added. 'Leaders in the U.S. are charismatic and strong, like President Obama. But leaders in Japan are required to have the ability to coordinate and cooperate.'
Renho said one of her main missions is to help stabilize the government. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan suffered a bruising defeat in elections last month, scarcely 10 months after the party took control of the lower house of parliament and ousted the Liberal Democratic Party after more than half a century of near-uninterrupted rule.
Support for Renho has grown thanks largely to the power of Twitter and Ustream, the global live-streaming site. On Twitter, she has more than 158,000 followers, and regularly tweets about what she eats for lunch and her 13-year-old twins, one a boy and one a girl.
'I just found gym clothes balled up in my son's school bag. Why so dirty? I wonder what happened in the P.E. class,' she wrote in one tweet.
'The number of legislators who tweet is still small. Not many politicians use Ustream to send out their speeches on the street, as well as their messages,' Ms. Renho says. 'It's such a waste.'
Mariko Sanchanta / Miho Inada
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