Thirty minutes by foot from my house in Berlin, I can see the political center of Germany. There, the most important national buildings stand — the Parliament house, the Federal Diet and the office of Chancellor Angela Merkel. She is not only the first female chancellor, but also the first chancellor to have been raised in the former DDR, East Germany.

Merkel's place of birth and gender do not seem as important today as they once might have done, but certainly there is still discrimination against the former Eastern Germans because the country was less wealthy and it was more difficult for "Ossies" to get good jobs than their counterparts in the West after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

These factors make Merkel interesting, but there is also more to the woman that makes her worthy of note. The Christian Democratic Union of Germany, or CDU, the party to which Merkel belongs, is actually conservative, which seems in contradiction to her personal history. She is protestant and divorced. On the other hand, she is well respected because of her academic background: She has a Ph.D. degree in physics. This is a typical object of veneration in Germany.

German people take their politician's personal lives seriously, and do not care whether they were born into political families or not. Nevertheless, with her unique background, Merkel's success has raised eyebrows across Germany. Merkel has gone from strength to strength since becoming chancellor. German media have rated her the most popular politician for most of her term in power. Forbes has named her the world's most powerful woman for the last two years.

In a populist move, she changed her hairstyle and clothes in order to become more telegenic. Now German people are happy with her because their leader is not only capable but also well dressed.

Living in Germany, I feel that people are really satisfied with her because of the economic growth the nation has experienced since she took power. Although German consumption tax has been raised from 16 percent to 19 percent, her high ratings have remained.

The reason for her popularity is clear — people admire her ability to achieve targets. For example, she fulfilled her promise to cut the jobless rate. Massive unemployment was one of the significant challenges she faced, and the German government recently announced that the rate had been reduced to 9.0 percent, the lowest unemployment figures since 1993.

She has also seen the birthrate rise while in office. Germany was struggling with a declining birthrate like Japan. Merkel's strategy was successful last year while no improvement was seen in Japan.

The Japanese government focused on the same problem, but did not really get to grips with why people want fewer or no children. By contrast, Merkel caught the sentiment of the people, particularly women. Her administration encouraged the rise in the birthrate by offering attractive and effective support for new parents.

Merkel's empathy with the modern German woman meant that she could foster effective policies that encouraged more people to start families. No wonder that she is supported by the majority of the people.

Recent elections have seen great gains for women all over the world. Conservative Japanese may claim that female leadership can only be successful overseas. But it was not easy for the German leader to achieve her goals. Merkel started her political career in Helmut Kohl's government. The sexism she suffered at that time is famous -- Merkel was called "the girl" by party members. At that time, all parties tried to increase the seats held by women and former politicians from the East, but it was just liberal posturing. Probably no one knew that "the girl" would become German chancellor 15 years later.

Some day, I hope that we Japanese may have a female prime minister. Undoubtedly, the oyaji in the Diet call her "the girl" at the moment.