is a popular
Japanese political term for the 83
LDP members 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 ...
first elected in the
2005 general election. The Koizumi Children are loosely organized into a political association called .
The term is a reference to then-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 ...
, with whom the LDP success in the 2005 elections is closely associated. Some of the children were so-called 'assassins,' candidates hand-picked by Koizumi to defeat LDP party members who opposed his efforts at
postal reform. As such, the children are popularly associated with Koizumi's reform-minded policies. Koichi Yamauchi, one of the children, has described the term as "essentially meaningless," arguing that differences among the group such as faction membership and personal background make any description of the children as a group problematic.
In the following
2009 general election, only 10 of the 83 Koizumi Children were re-elected. The 2009 election saw a massive defeat for the ruling LDP and brought the opposition
DPJ to power for the first time. Ironically, most of these Koizumi Children were defeated in their districts by candidates who were "parachuted" in by the DPJ and others in a style much like the LDP once adopted.
The election also saw a number of young DPJ politicians, all handpicked by DPJ election strategist
Ichirō Ozawa
is a Japanese politician and has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1969, representing the Iwate 3rd district (Iwate 2nd district prior to the 1996 general election and Iwate 4th district prior to the 2017 general election). H ...
, sent to "assassinate" vulnerable LDP seats and subsequently elected in the same manner as the Koizumi Children. As such, these DPJ Diet members were dubbed the "Ozawa Children".
Many of the Koizumi Children defeated in 2009 returned to the House of Representatives in the
2012 general election, and some were later elected to the
House of Councillors
The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, ...
.
Koizumi Children and their fates
Held their seat in 2009
*
Toshiko Abe
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).
A native of Miyagi Prefecture, she attended Miyagi Gakuin Women's Junior College and Mitsui Memorial Hospit ...
- held seat through 2014 election
*
Ryosei Akazawa
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party and member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature), representing the Tottori 2nd district in Tottori Prefecture.
A native of Bunkyō, Tokyo and graduate of the ...
- held seat through 2014 election
*
Tomomi Inada
is a Japanese lawyer and politician serving as a member of the Japanese House of Representatives, representing the 1st Fukui Prefecture since September 2005. She previously served as the 14th Japanese Minister of Defense from August 2016 to Jul ...
- held seat through 2014 election; served as Minister of Defense in the Abe cabinet
*
Shigeo Kitamura - held seat through 2014 election
*
Keiko Nagaoka
is a Japanese politician serving in the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. A native of Tokyo and graduate of Gakushuin University she was elected for the first time in 2005. ...
- held seat through 2014 election
*
Yasuhiro Ozato
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of the former town of Kirishima, Kagoshima and graduate of Keio University, he was elected for the ...
- held seat through 2014 election
*
Masaaki Taira
is a Japanese politician serving in the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. A native of Edogawa, Tokyo and graduate of Waseda University
, mottoeng = Independence of schol ...
- held seat through 2014 election
*
Takeshi Tokuda
is a Japanese politician formerly serving in the House of Representatives of Japan, House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan, Diet (national legislature) as an independent. A native of Yao, Osaka he attended University of California, Los Ang ...
- held seat through 2012 election; resigned from the Diet in 2014
Defeated in 2009 and returned in 2012
*
Jiro Akama
*
Tōru Doi
*
Mineyuki Fukuda
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).
Overviews
A native of Yokohama, Kanagawa and graduate of Rikkyo University
, also known as Saint Paul's ...
*
Kenji Harada Kenji may refer to:
*Kenji (given name), a masculine Japanese given name, and list of people & characters with this name
*Kenji (era), a Japanese era spanned from 1275 to 1278
* ''Kenji'' (manga) (拳児), a 1980s manga by Matsuda Ryuchi
* "Kenji" ...
*
Hirotaka Ishihara
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Kanagawa Prefecture and graduate of Keio University, he was elected to the House of Representativ ...
*
Tadahiko Ito
*
Hideki Makihara
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Tokyo he attended the University of Tokyo and law school at Georgetown University
Georgetown U ...
*
Yoshitami Kameoka
*
Kotaro Nagasaki
is a Japanese politician serving in the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. A native of Tokyo and graduate of the University of Tokyo he joined the Ministry of Finance in 1991. ...
*
Kazuyuki Nakane
is a Japanese politician serving in the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. A native of Kōnosu, Saitama he attended Nippon Sport Science University as an undergraduate and Se ...
*
Takashi Ōtsuka
*
Taku Otsuka
*
Manabu Sakai
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Fuchū, Tokyo and graduate of the University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public ...
*
Ryosei Tanaka
*
Naomi Tokashiki
is a former Japanese politician who served in the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. A native of Kyoto, Kyoto and graduate of Showa University and business school at Waseda ...
*
Kenichiro Ueno
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Nagahama, Shiga and graduate of Kyoto University, he joined the Ministry of Home Affairs (now par ...
*
Tomohiro Yamamoto
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).
Career
A native of Kyoto, Kyoto, Yamamoto attended Kansai University as an undergraduate and received a mas ...
Defeated in 2009 and otherwise returned to the Diet
*
Masaaki Akaike - elected to House of Councillors in 2013
*
Takamaro Fukuoka - elected to House of Councillors in 2010
*
Kuniko Inoguchi - served in the Koizumi cabinet; elected to House of Councillors in 2010
*
Satsuki Katayama
is a Japanese politician serving her first term in Japan's House of Councillors, having been elected in July 2010 as a candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). She previously represented the Shizuoka 7th district in the House of Repres ...
- elected to House of Councillors in 2010
*
Yukari Sato - elected to House of Councillors in 2010; returned to House of Representatives in 2014
*
Koichiro Shimizu - returned in 2013-14 as replacement for
Hideo Higashikokubaru
is a Japanese politician. He originally rose to fame as a comedian and actor under the stage name , and was known for his role in the popular game show ''Takeshi's Castle''.
He served as the Governor of Miyazaki Prefecture from 2007 to 2011, re ...
, defeated in 2014
Defeated in 2009 and did not return to the Diet
*
Etsuji Arai
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Fukaya, Saitama and graduate of Kanagawa Dental College, he obtained his medical license in 1984 a ...
- left politics
*
Osamu Ashitomi - left politics
*
Nobuhiko Endō
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Meguro, Tokyo and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he worked at the Ministry of Posts and Telec ...
- left LDP to run for third parties
*
Makiko Fujino
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature), representing the 4th District of Aichi Prefecture. A native of Tokyo and graduate of the University of the Sa ...
- left politics
*
Yukari Iijima
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Mitaka, Tokyo and graduate of Chuo University, she became the Superintendent of Education for the i ...
- left politics
*
Nobuko Iwaki - defeated in 2009 and 2012; left politics
*
Kyoko Izawa
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Tokyo, she attended Nihon University as an undergraduate and received MBA from Keio University. Sh ...
- left politics
*
Nobuhiro Omiya
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Kitaakita District, Akita and graduate of Chuo University, he was elected to the House of Represen ...
- defeated in 2009, 2012 and 2014
*
Taizō Sugimura - became television personality
*
Toshio Ukishima
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives of Japan, House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan, Diet (national legislature). A native of Tokyo and a hig ...
- left politics
References
{{Authority control
Political terminology in Japan