Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi Hopes for Big Win as Polls Open in National Elections

TOKYO (AP) — Polls opened Sunday in parliamentary elections that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hopes will give her struggling party a big enough win to push through an ambitious conservative political agenda. Takaichi is hugely popular, but the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan for most of the last seven decades, is not. She called Sunday’s snap elections hoping to turn that around. She wants to make progress on a right-wing agenda that aims to boost Japan’s economy and military capabilities as tensions grow with China. She also nurtures ties with her crucial U.S. ally, and a…