In a brief bit of footage from the early 1990s, a young, power-suited Sanae Takaichi speeds past Japan’s parliament building in the back seat of a limousine. She hoists dumbbells in a commanding office above Tokyo. She strides determinedly up escalators, while others stand passively.

“I felt I had found what I truly wanted to do,” says the future prime minister describing her recent political awakening while interning for a US congresswoman. “Having observed Japan from the American Congress, I became determined to work for Japan!”

The video fades into the logo of Daishinpan, a long-forgotten credit card company that Takaichi, then a television news presenter, was advertising at the time. Inadvertently, the commercial captures a historic moment of transformation: imprinting on the public consciousness the picture of a woman at the start of a 30-year ascent to Japan’s highest political office.