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'You are my god', Japan's PM tells British rock band Deep Purple

Maia Davies
EPA Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi poses with Ian Paice. They hold a set of signed drumsticks between them. Takaichi has short black hair and wears a black blazer over a black top. Paice has long white hair, tied back, and wears glasses, a black blazer and a grey buttoned shirt.EPA
Japan's prime minister told the band she had been listening to their hard rock music since she was in primary school

The British rock band Deep Purple met a long-time super fan in Tokyo on Friday - who just happened to be the Japanese prime minister.

"You are my god," Sanae Takaichi, a hard rock enthusiast, told the band's drummer Ian Paice, beaming as she handed him a pair of signed Japanese-made drumsticks.

An avid drummer herself, Takaichi played in a Deep Purple tribute band as a girl after becoming a fan in primary school.

"These days, when I fight with my husband I drum to Burn and cast a curse on him," the 65-year-old conservative leader told the musicians at her office in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, on Friday.

The band met Japan's first female prime minister as they returned to tour across the country where they recorded the 1972 live album Made in Japan - considered to be one of the greatest rock albums ever recorded.

"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.

The prime minister said she hoped the tour would "thrill and excite fans all over Japan" and promote cultural exchange between the UK and Japan.

Paice said it was always a pleasure to visit Japan, but called the meeting an "added bonus".

Reuters Takaichi poses with Deep Purple. They stand side-by-side in a line and smile. Left to right are: Don Airey, Ian Paice, Sanae Takaichi, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and Simon McBride. They are stood in a room with wood-panelled walls, and grey blinds drawn over a windowed wall to the right of the frame.Reuters
The band visited their high-profile fan before their scheduled appearance at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan arena on Saturday

The band wrote in a post on Instagram: "A lifelong fan of hard rock and heavy metal, Takaichi has often named Deep Purple as one of her favourite bands.

"She even told the group she bought their Machine Head album back in grade school."

Formed in England in 1968, Deep Purple became known as one of the "unholy trinity" of British heavy metal bands, alongside Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

Perhaps their most renowned hit - Smoke on the Water - came on their 1971 album Machine Head.

Takaichi played keyboard in a Deep Purple tribute band before picking up the drums while at university - after which she was known to carry several sets of drumsticks due to a tendency to break them during intense performances.

The visit will have been a welcome respite for the prime minister, who has faced increasingly strained diplomatic ties with China, rising prices and a sluggish economy since coming to office in October.