is a Japanese politician serving 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 ...

in the

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

(national legislature) as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. A native of

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 ...

and graduate of

Gakushuin University is a private university in Mejiro, Toshima Ward, Tokyo. It was re-established after World War II as an affiliate of the Gakushūin School Corporation. The privatized successor to the original Gakushūin University (or "Peers School") was estab ...

she was elected for the first time in 2005. Her husband was politician Yoji Nagaoka, who committed suicide on August 1, 2005.

Biography

Early life

Born in

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

, her father was the president of a feed company. She attended the

Gakushūin The or Peers School (Gakushūin School Corporation), initially known as Gakushūjo, is a Japanese educational institution in Tokyo, originally established to educate the children of Japan's nobility. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2002)"Gakushū- ...

for middle school and high school. In March of 1976 she graduated from the Law Faculty of

. In January 1978 she married Yoji Nagaoka, who at that time was a bureaucrat in the

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries may refer to: * Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Cambodia) * Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan) * Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Niue) * Depar ...

. In 1995 her husband retired from the Ministry and entered electoral politics, joining the New Frontier Party, but did not win an election until he joined the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 2003.

Political career

In 2005, Nagaoka's husband cast a vote in favor the privatization of the Japanese Post Office (which later became the

Japan Post Network , was a Japanese company which operated the post office of Japan. It was part of the Japan Post Holdings group. History * October 1, 2007 - Operations commenced with the break-up and privatization of former Japan Post operating divisions. * O ...

in 2007), thereby incurring the wrath of Banking Minister

Shizuka Kamei is a former Japanese politician and a former chairman of the Parliamentary League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty. Early life He was born in the city of Shōbara in Hiroshima Prefecture into a poor family. He studied at the department o ...

, who was the leader of his

faction Faction or factionalism may refer to: Politics * Political faction, a group of people with a common political purpose * Free and Independent Faction, a Romanian political party * Faction (''Planescape''), a political faction in the game ''Planes ...

within the LDP. A magazine called Nagaoka a traitor for this action. On August 1, Nagaoka reported to the police that her husband had hanged himself. Although he did not leave a suicide note, stress over political matters was widely cited as the reason. Following her husband's suicide, Nagaoka announced her candidacy for his seat (Ibaraki District 7) in the

2005 Japanese general election General elections were held in Japan on 11 September 2005 for all 480 seats of the House of Representatives of Japan, the lower house of the Diet of Japan, almost two years before the end of the term taken from the last election in 2003. Prime ...

, with the assent of the LDP. Although defeated for the District 7 seat by

Kishirō Nakamura is a Japanese politician serving in the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) as an independent. A native of Sakai, Sashima District, Ibaraki Prefecture and a graduate of Nihon University, he was elected to the House of Re ...

(independent), she won a proportional seat in the Kanto block proportional seat, and became a member of the

. In the

2021 Japanese general election General elections were held in Japan on 31 October 2021, as required by the constitution. Voting took place in all constituencies in order to elect members to the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet. As the constitutio ...

she defeated

(previously unbeaten after 14 elections).

References

1953 births Living people Politicians from Tokyo Gakushuin University alumni Spouses of Japanese politicians Koizumi Children Female members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians 21st-century Japanese women politicians {{Japan-politician-1950s-stub