(August 22, 1938 – May 23, 2017) was a Japanese politician. He was a member of the
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the
Sunrise Party of Japan and former member of 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 ...
, serving his ninth term in the Lower House representing
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
's first electoral district until his defeat in the
2009 Japanese general election
General elections were held in Japan on August 30, 2009 to elect the 480 members of the House of Representatives. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) defeated the ruling coalition ( Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and New Komeito Party) ...
. He was
Chief Cabinet Secretary
The is a member of the cabinet and is the leader and chief executive of the Cabinet Secretariat of Japan. The Chief Cabinet Secretary coordinates the policies of ministries and agencies in the executive branch, and also serves as the government ...
to Prime Minister
Shinzō Abe
Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍 晋三, 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 (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 20 ...
from August 2007 to September 2007, and Minister of Economic and Fiscal Policy in
Tarō Asō
is a Japanese politician serving as the Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. Asō previously served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2008 to 2009 and as Deputy Prime Minister of Japan and Minister of Finance from 2 ...
's administration from February to September 2009.
Political career
Born the grandson of poets
Yosano Akiko
Yosano Akiko (Shinjitai: , seiji: ; 7 December 1878 – 29 May 1942) was the pen-name of a Japanese author, poet, pioneering feminist, pacifist, and social reformer, active in the late Meiji era as well as the Taishō and early Shōwa eras of ...
and
Yosano Tekkan
was the pen-name of Yosano Hiroshi, a Japanese author and poet active in late Meiji, Taishō, and early Shōwa period Japan. His wife was fellow author Yosano Akiko. Cabinet minister and politician Kaoru Yosano is his grandson.
Early life
Yos ...
in Tokyo, Yosano graduated from the
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...
in 1963. In 1972 he unsuccessfully ran for the House of Representatives, then served as secretary to
Yasuhiro Nakasone
was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party from 1982 to 1987. He was a member of the House of Representatives for more than 50 years. He was best known for pushing through the ...
. He ran again in 1976 and was elected. On August 27, 2007, he was appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, replacing
Yasuhisa Shiozaki
is a Japanese politician who served as Chief Cabinet Secretary to Prime Minister Shinzō Abe until August 2007.
__FORCETOC__
Early career
Born in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, he was an AFS exchange student in high school, graduated with a l ...
. He was replaced by
Nobutaka Machimura
was a Japanese politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.[Yasuo Fukuda
is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2007 to 2008. He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving in that role from 2000 to 2004 under Prime Ministers Yoshirō M ...]
succeeded Abe.
['']Japan Times
''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
History
''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...
'', "Fukuda's new lineup", August 3, 2008. He was appointed as Minister of Economic and Fiscal Policy and Minister of Regulatory Reform on August 1, 2008.
![Timothy Geithner and Kaoru Yosano 20090424](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Timothy_Geithner_and_Kaoru_Yosano_20090424.jpg)
Following the resignation of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Yosano announced his candidacy for the LDP presidency on September 8, 2008:
In
the leadership election, held on September 22, 2008,
Tarō Asō
is a Japanese politician serving as the Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. Asō previously served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2008 to 2009 and as Deputy Prime Minister of Japan and Minister of Finance from 2 ...
was elected with 351 of the 527 votes, while Yosano trailed in second place with 66 votes. In Aso's cabinet, appointed on 24 September 2008, Yosano retained his post as Minister of Economic and Fiscal Policy. On February 18, 2009, with the resignation of Shoichi Nakagawa on the case of the G7 conference, he took office as Minister of Finance and Minister in charge of financial services.
On April 4, 2010, Yosano,
Takeo Hiranuma
is a Japanese politician and a member of the House of Representatives. He is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and is former chairperson of the Party for Future Generations.
Early life
Takeo Hiranuma was born in Tokyo in 1939. His moth ...
,
Hiroyuki Sonoda
was a Japanese politician serving in the Diet (national legislature) as a member of the House of Representatives for Kumamoto 4th district; following the 2017 general election when Kumamoto lost one seat due to reapportionment, he moved to the ...
,
Takao Fujii
is a Japanese politician, an independent and member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Shirakawa, Gifu and graduate of Seijo University, he was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 19 ...
and
Yoshio Nakagawa
is a Japanese politician of the Sunrise Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Hiroo District, Hokkaidō and dropout of Kanagawa University, he was elected to the House of Councill ...
announced their plans to leave the LDP to establish a new political party, the
Sunrise Party of Japan. He left the Sunrise Party on 13 January 2011 to join the
Naoto Kan
is a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) from June 2010 to September 2011. Kan was the first Prime Minister since the resignation of Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 to serve for m ...
's cabinet as Minister of Economic and Fiscal Policy.
Yosano was known for advocating an increase in the
consumption tax
A consumption tax is a tax levied on consumption spending on goods and services. The tax base of such a tax is the money spent on Consumption (economics), consumption. Consumption taxes are usually indirect, such as a sales tax or a value-added ta ...
to reconstruct the nation's debt-ridden fiscal structure. After joining the DPJ government, he drew up the plans for the 2012 consumption tax increase. The legislation was passed through the House of Representatives on June 26, 2012 and passed the Upper House on August 10, 2012.
Personal life and death
His hobbies included
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
, making computers, photography, fishing, and playing Japanese board games.
[ He was a ]Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
.
It was announced on September 5, 2012 that he would not run for re-election as he was suffering from throat cancer and had difficulty speaking. Yosano died on May 23, 2017.Banri Kaieda
is a Japanese politician who has served as the Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan since 2021. A member of the House of Representatives of Japan, he also served as the President of the Democratic Party of Japan between 2012 ...
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Yosano, Kaoru
1938 births
2017 deaths
Members of the House of Representatives (Japan)
Government ministers of Japan
Ministers of Finance of Japan
Education ministers of Japan
University of Tokyo alumni
Japanese Roman Catholics
Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians
Sunrise Party politicians
21st-century Japanese politicians
Politicians from Tokyo