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There's been some interesting Japanese+English coverage lately about former defense minister Inada Tomomi. Inada has never exactly been popular with the centre/left-end of the spectrum, but over the last two years she has done much to annoy traditionalists in her own party.
This interesting report by @justinmccurry based on her comments about gender dynamics in the LDP post-cabinet is not coming out of nowhere https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/23/japan-is-a-democracy-without-women-says-ruling-party-mp
The Asahi also had some interesting reporting about Inada leading the charge since 2019 to get the "widow tax deduction" to also apply to never-been-married single mothers https://www.asahi.com/rensai/list.html?id=1098&iref=pc_rensai_top_chumoku&iref=pc_extlink
Inada has for sometime generally had a more open attitude to 'sexual minorities' and their legal rights, but has also more recently confirmed support for legally separate surnames despite traditionalist claims it would undermine the sanctity of the family.
Also involved in setting up a LDP group「女性議員飛躍の会」explicitly to increase the number of female parliamentarians, proposing preferential treatment for women through the proportional representation list and setting numerical targets. https://www.fukuishimbun.co.jp/articles/-/851016
Inada even went as far as suggesting constitutional change to allow a quota system--not one of the four items for constitutional revision agreed by the LDP party. Basically an admission that the 2018 Gender Equality Promotion Law had completely failed https://mainichi.jp/senkyo/articles/20200210/k00/00m/010/234000c
She is also leading a cross-party federation for pushing forward on getting home-cooked meals delivered to the homes of children in poverty during COVID-19, saying she wanted to make it a permanent program https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2020082100828&g=pol
By no means suggesting she has undergone some sort of liberal transformation. But it seems that her dumping from the Minister of Defense role was something of an important moment. https://digital.asahi.com/articles/ASN9K2SXFN9JUEHF009.html
Leaving aside the criticisms of her performance in the role, I remember at the time a fair amount of misogynistic vitriol being directed at her from inside her own party. I wouldn't be surprised if that is part of the story.
Inada says her mind changed after becoming an MP about women's advancement possibilities. She is far less optimistic & came to the conclusion that there is still an ingrained assumption that politics, & defense issues in particular, should be left to men. https://mainichi.jp/premier/politics/articles/20190424/pol/00m/010/001000c
Back in July there were reports of her having alienated more hardcore traditionalist conservatives in the party. Her leadership of the 伝統と創造の会 traditionalist parliamentary group has apparently resulted in another group being set up in protest https://digital.asahi.com/articles/ASN7H6TN9N7HUTFK02J.html?iref=pc_extlink
One could be skeptical & assume this 'compassionate conservatism' is part of refreshing her image for a future run at PM. However, in reality it seems to have further alienated her from many in the LDP, something she appears very aware of in the above articles.
This by @philipbrasor adds further useful context and other Japanese sources from earlier on in the year. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/15/national/media-national/unmarried-single-parents-find-unlikely-ally-scrap-tax-deduction/
