[3] Born and raised in the city of Nara, Takaichi graduated from Unebi Senior High School, Kobe University, and the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management.

In the LDP, Takaichi belonged to the Mori Faction (formally, the Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyū-kai) and she served as a Parliamentary Vice Minister for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry under Keizō Obuchi cabinet.

In the 2000 House of Representatives election she was placed in the first position on the LDP's proportional representation list and easily won her third term.

She moved to the nearby city of Ikoma and won a seat representing the Nara 2nd district in the 2005 Japanese general election.

[5] Takaichi headed an LDP group that opposed legislation that would allow married couples to retain separate surnames after marriage, arguing that it would undermine Japan's traditional family system.

As communications chief she "stirred controversy when she suggested TV broadcasters could have their license revoked if they air programs the government considers politically biased, a remark widely slammed as tantamount to the repression of free speech".

[5] In August 2007, she was the only Abe cabinet member to join former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in visiting Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of the end of World War II.

[10] After the LDP's victory in the 2012 Japanese general election, Takaichi was appointed to head the party's Policy Research Council.

Among other initiatives, she put pressure on NHK to cut its viewing fees and reform its governance,[20] and oversaw the distribution of cash handouts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[21] In August 2021, Takaichi expressed her willingness to challenge incumbent Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga for the presidency of the LDP in the scheduled election on September 29.

[22] On September 3, Suga announced that he would not seek re-election; news media outlets reported the next day that former Prime Minister Abe had shifted his support to Takaichi.

[25] Several days later, on March 7, 2023, the Internal Affairs ministry confirmed the authenticity of the document in question, and opposition Diet members called on Takaichi to resign.

[29] With regards to foreign policy, Takaichi supports revising article 9 of the Japanese constitution which prohibits Japan from entering armed conflict.