is a Japanese

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who has served in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

since 1993, representing the

Kanagawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

3rd district. He also served in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

as Chairperson of the National Public Safety Commission, Minister in charge of Building National Resilience, and Minister of State for Disaster Management from 2017 to 2018. He is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Early life

Okonogi was born in

Yokohama, Kanagawa is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

. His father,

Hikosaburo Okonogi Hikosaburo Okonogi (小此木彦三郎, January 26, 1928 - November 4, 1991) was a Japanese politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1991, as Minister of International Trade and Industry from 1983 to 1984, ...

, served in the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1991. Okonogi graduated from

Tamagawa University is a Japanese university in Machida, Tokyo, Japan. The university consists of 16 departments in seven faculties (undergraduate), as well as seven programs leading to a master's degree and four programs leading to a doctorate degree. Part of th ...

in 1989 and worked as his father's assistant. Following his father's death in 1991, he was hired as secretary to Foreign Minister

Michio Watanabe was a Japanese political figure. He was born in Ōtawara, Tochigi and graduated from the Tokyo College of Commerce (now Hitotsubashi University) in 1942. He worked as a reporter for the ''Yomiuri Shimbun'', a certified tax accountant, and a mem ...

in 1992.

Political career

Okonogi was elected for the first time in the 1993 general election, and was re-elected in the 1996 general election. In August 1998, he was appointed Director of the LDP Youth Division, and in October 1999, he was appointed Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture. After holding his seat in the 2000 general election and 2003 general election, he became the youngest Vice Minister in Japanese history in 2004 with his appointment as Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry under Prime Minister

Junichiro Koizumi Junichiro Koizumi (; , ''Koizumi Jun'ichirō'' ; born 8 January 1942) is a former Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2009. He is ...

. After holding his seat in the 2005 general election, he served as LDP Deputy Secretary-General starting in November 2005, and as Deputy Chairman of the Diet Affairs Committee starting in September 2006. Okonogi was voted out of office in the 2009 general election. While the LDP was in the opposition, he was appointed Chairman of the Commission for Research on the Government for the Federation of Kanagawa Prefecture LDP Branches in April 2010. Okonogi returned to office in the 2012 general election. He was appointed LDP Chief Deputy Secretary-General in December 2012, Acting Chairman of the Diet Affairs Committee in October 2013, and Chairman of the Federation of Kanagawa Prefecture LDP Branches in April 2014. As disaster management minister under Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Lib ...

, Okonogi oversaw the government's response in 2018 to

Typhoon Jebi Typhoon Jebi, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Maymay, was the costliest typhoon in Japan's history in terms of insured losses. Jebi formed from a tropical disturbance south-southwest of Wake Island on August 26 and became the twenty-fi ...

, which resulted in the flooding of

Kansai International Airport Kansai International Airport ( ja, 関西国際空港, Kansai Kokusai Kūkō) commonly known as is the primary international airport in the Greater Osaka Area of Japan and the closest international airport to the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and K ...

and extensive damage throughout the surrounding

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolita ...

. He left the Cabinet following a reshuffle in October 2018. Okonogi has been close to

Yoshihide Suga is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2020 to 2021. He had served as Chief Cabinet Secretary during the second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fro ...

for many years, having known Suga since elementary school, when Suga was in his 20s and serving as an aide to Okonogi's father. Suga mentored Okonogi in his first political campaign, and Okonogi served as Suga's campaign director during the 2020 LDP leadership election.

References

External links

* in Japanese {{DEFAULTSORT:Okonogi, Hachiro 1965 births Living people Politicians from Yokohama Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Tamagawa University alumni 21st-century Japanese politicians 20th-century Japanese politicians