People across Japan braved snow to vote in the country’s first mid-winter poll in 36 years.

Japan’s transport ministry said 37 train lines and 58 ferry routes were closed and 54 flights cancelled as of Sunday morning. There was rare snowfall in Tokyo as people headed out to vote.

“People want their lives to be better and more comfortable because we are so accustomed to not having inflation [costs rising]… so people are very worried. I think we need a long-term solution rather than short-term fixes,” Ritsuko Ninomiya, a voter in Tokyo, told the BBC.

Takaichi’s enthusiasm, populist spending promises and nationalist rhetoric appear to have energised voters.

Her social media presence has also cultivated new followers, particularly among young voters. She regularly shares clips of her daily life and political activities, and a video of her playing the drums with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is one of many clips to have gone viral.

Takaichi and the LDP faced a more unified opposition than before. LDP’s former coalition partner Komeito has joined forces with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan to form the largest opposition bloc in the lower house.

Takaichi has pushed to toughen the immigration system, review rules around foreign ownership of Japanese land, and tackle any non-payments of tax and health insurance by foreign nationals.

But in a country where only 3% of the population are foreign nationals, critics have accused her of creating anxiety and division.

Relations with China – Japan’s largest trading partner – have been strained as well, after Takaichi suggested last November that Japan could intervene militarily if China invaded Taiwan.

With a two-thirds majority, Takaichi would be a strong position to considering her long-held aim of changing Japan’s pacifist constitution.

Takaichi has courted Donald Trump, who has publicly endorsed her – an unusual move by a US president – and they both seem to agree that Japan should spend more on defence.

That relationship too was on voters’ minds as they headed to the polls on Sunday.

“I am concerned with what President Trump is doing as well as the national defence issues. I am not sure where the money is coming from to cover that. So balancing budget spending between defence and people’s life is a major concern for me,” Yuko Sakai says.