“I can’t believe Deep Purple are here,” swooned the hard-rock drummer Sanae Takaichi, whom readers may know from her other job—the Prime Minister of Japan.
Indeed, the aged rockers were in Japan recently on tour, returning to the country where they recorded their critically-acclaimed live album, Live in Japan.
The band attended a face-to-face meeting with the head of state who, last October, became the first female leader in the country’s history.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took a short — and happy — break on Friday as she hosted legendary British rock band Deep Purple in Tokyo as a longtime admirer. https://t.co/cGIRnuOMOF pic.twitter.com/D7Je9tvYf8
— ABC News (@ABC) April 10, 2026
A huge fan, she bought the band’s Machine Head album containing the seminal hard rock track Smoke on the Water while she was in grade school, all the way back in 1971.
“I can’t believe Deep Purple are here,” Takaichi said, smiling as she greeted the musicians.
“I have the deepest respect for the way you continue to make rock history while embracing new challenges and creating captivating music to this day,” she said through an interpreter.
To the band’s drummer, Ian Paice, she quipped, “you are my god,” during a special meeting where she presented him with a gift of signed Japanese-made drumsticks.
Takaichi told the band that when she argues with her husband, her first response is to go and play along to their 1974 album Burn. (See the band performing in the video below…)
According to the BBC, Takaichi played keyboards in a Deep Purple tribute band before picking up the drums while at university. She’s remained behind the kit ever since, playing in a heavy metal band—and she’s known for carrying multiple sets of drumsticks in case she broke them, which happened a lot.
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In a statement on social media, Deep Purple stressed how “music is an international language”.
“Japanese fans really enjoy our music,” they said—but included no mention if they’d be playing Woman from Tokyo in their next set.
SHARE This Deep Purple Superfan Getting A Special Meet And Greet With The Band…
