Sanae, The New Prime Minister of Japan
- Nov 11, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 12, 2025
Written by Jonathan Dubrulle, Healer-Influencer
Jonathan Dubrulle is a Healer-Influencer in Madrid who likes to help people create 'paso a paso' a better life.
What does the name Sanae mean? It is the name of the new, very entertaining Japanese PM who can seduce many statesmen with charisma, energy, and uniqueness. Wisdom radiates in many videos, but Japanese culture remains a mystery. Having been in a reality TV show in Tokyo, I have had the lived experience, and I take it with pride. This piece is about my attempt to create a new Japanese character based on the name Sanae.
Sanae 早苗
Sanae comes from Sa and Nae. Sa refers to youth and is the first character. It is beautiful, pertaining to the look of a child with a head and a body as a cross, youth, and purity. The style is the classical Japanese one.
Nae means “plant of rice” and relates to fertility and the passing seasons, with renewal every year. The rice plant grows, stands up, and falls, like humans in a dance that feeds the world. Hence, Sanae means “a young plant of rice,” or “the essence of life is youth.”
1333
The name comes from the Kamakura period and reflects the time of Zen Buddhism, with its impermanence, reflecting the impermanence of youth. It was the time of the Samurai.
The Kamakura period was when the samurai class gained political power.
It was full of emotional expression, like a “young rice plant” as a name, which is not only emotionally evocative but also very real, bringing the colours, scents, and taste of rice to life. It is an essence.
I remember learning in economic history about the balance between food, viz. rice, and population dynamics.
Malthusian tensions pertain to explosions of populations with food supply innovations. Rice and potatoes changed everything. And now, it has exploded in Asia, particularly in India, to growth levels that are unsustainable. It is the path to flounder, to keep going and going, also with climate change. Maybe a new young rice plant will save the day.
A star is born
When I saw her on Threads, in videos with Trump and other world leaders, I realized a star is born. She’s very entertaining, a true beauty, witty, and can make any world leader fall in love with her. The first woman, from a Western perspective, to ever lead the great nation of Japan. It is for the history books.
She can meet an emperor, but also heart a post on Threads, as she has done for me. Her secret is that she is, even at her age, beautiful, and yes, je crois.
Centre hospitalier
As I was here in the arts class in the hospital center where I am now staying in Brussels, I wanted to draw the name Sanae. I have no background in Japanese or any related language. I started drawing the first character and realized quickly that the best signs are drawn with colour and blind.
After my cheap copy, I realized that I wanted to create my own sign. Something with a twist that reflects my insights, is based on the Nae sign, but is still unique enough to make a difference, yet not too unique to not matter at all.
I started to do some drawings and to reflect on what I wanted to convey. Initially, I thought about including a hotel sign, as it is most common to live in hotels in Japan these days.
Nevertheless, I decided to settle for a sign including the telephone hash.
My own new sign – Hash
The new essence of life I drew on my third attempt. It’s a combination of a sword, a home, and a hash sign.
The sword is at a distance, as people feel threatened easily, and it is not needed, only in case of real-life-threatening self-defence, and never as a pre-emptive strike. A samurai sword has a presence, and that is enough to avoid a fight.
Winning a battle is not engaging in one, as I recently told someone very special here in Jean Titeca Hospital Center.
The house is like a box, like a luxury capsule hotel, and inside it is a hash sign, the sign on phones. There is always the possibility to reach out to friends and family, and I do use it almost daily.
The picture of my new Japanese character goes along with the article. I hope it inspires you to create your own. All you need to do is buy a calligraphy set. Sign arts should flourish again, also with a new symbol of your own.
Read more from Jonathan Dubrulle
Jonathan Dubrulle, Healer-Influencer
I’m Jonathan (38y) and a Spinal Flow Practitioner in Madrid. I started as a high-potential at Thomson Reuters when I was 21. After Brussels and Geneva, I started the healing journey in Singapore and fell in love with my Chiropractor. I discovered I was gay in a country where it was still illegal at the time. With a broken heart, I moved to New York City, where I worked in Corporate Strategy. At 24, a revolt of the soul would happen at the Times Square Headquarters, and I was admitted to Bellevue Hospital. Now I have a practice in the center of Madrid. I help clients heal and grow, develop good microhabits, and create strategies to impact the world. Beauty can rise out of ashes.
