Japan’s 65-year-old conservative prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, instructed Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice “you might be my god” forward of the band’s present at Tokyo’s legendary Budokan Corridor on Saturday.

Takaichi, who grew to become Japan’s first-ever feminine prime minister in October final yr, performed keyboards in a Deep Purple tribute band and drums for a heavy metallic group at college. She has reportedly been a fan of the group since grade faculty, which youngsters in Japan attend till the age of 12, when she bought their 1972 album, Machine Head.

“I can’t consider Deep Purple are right here,” she beamed as she greeted the London metallic 5 piece. “I’ve the deepest respect for the best way you proceed to make rock historical past whereas embracing new challenges and creating fascinating music to today.”

She added that she hopes the tour will promote cultural alternate between the UK and Japan and that their present will excite followers all around the nation.

Assembly the band at Tokyo’s tourism workplace, she gifted Paice a pair of signed Japanese-made drumsticks, to which Paice instructed her: “You’re a drummer: we’re buddies!”.

Deep Purple are in Japan for his or her on-going world tour, which included a present at Budokan Corridor, Tokyo. The legendary area has welcomed the likes of The Beatles, Bob Dylan and ABBA, who carried out their last-ever present on the venue in March 1980.

In 1972, Deep Purple launched their Made in Japan reside double album to essential acclaim, which included recordings from Budokan Corridor, a venue the band have described as one among their favourites to play.

“It’s at all times a pleasure to come back to Japan,” mentioned Paice, “and this time now we have an added bonus.”

Takaichi, who loved a 92 per cent approval ranking amongst younger Japanese voters as lately as December, has repeatedly flexed her musical background and acumen.

In January, a clip of her drumming Okay-pop super-group BTS’s observe “Dynamite” and the tune “Golden” from hit Netflix movie KPop Demon Hunters with South Korean president Lee Jae Myung went viral.

Takaichi additionally made a number of appearances on Babymetal’s Steel Radio, a Tokyo FM present hosted by members of the all-female Japanese metallic band Babymetal, previous to her election.

She instructed them: “After I get irritated by my husband’s alternative of phrases or behaviour, I play the digital drums after he’s gone to mattress. ‘Burn’ by Deep Purple is a staple. I play songs like this to let off steam.”

She repeated the anecdote to Deep Purple, joking: “Today, after I combat with my husband I drum to ‘Burn’ and forged a curse on him.”

Takaichi has been known as Japan’s ‘Iron Woman’ for her adulation of Margaret Thatcher and her conservative social and financial views. She can also be a member of the Nippon Kaigi, a nationalist foyer group, and is taken into account the protege of the nation’s assassinated nationalist ex-prime minister, Shinzo Abe.