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, 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, 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, or ...
.
Koizumi Children and their fates
Held their seat in 2009
*
Toshiko Abe - held seat through 2014 election
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Ryosei Akazawa - 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
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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
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Yasuhiro Ozato - 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 in the Diet (national legislature) as an independent. A native of Yao, Osaka he attended University of California, Los Angeles and summer school at Harvard University i ...
- held seat through 2012 election; resigned from the Diet in 2014
Defeated in 2009 and returned in 2012
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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
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate select ...
*
Kenji Harada
*
Hirotaka Ishihara
*
Tadahiko Ito
*
Hideki Makihara
*
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 1 ...
*
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 Sen ...
*
Takashi Ōtsuka
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Osaka and graduate of Otemon Gakuin University, he was elected to the House of Representatives ...
*
Taku Otsuka
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the National Diet (national legislature of Japan). He is affiliated to the revisionist lobby Nippon Kaigi.
Personal and corporate backgrounds ...
*
Manabu Sakai
*
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 Wased ...
*
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 part ...
*
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
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Masaaki Akaike - elected to House of Councillors in 2013
*
Takamaro Fukuoka - elected to House of Councillors in 2010
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Kuniko Inoguchi
is a Japanese political scientist and politician. She served as Japan's first Minister of State for Gender Equality and Social Affairs from 2005 to 2006, and is currently a member of the House of Councillors representing Chiba Prefecture for the ...
- served in the Koizumi cabinet; elected to House of Councillors in 2010
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Satsuki Katayama - elected to House of Councillors in 2010
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Yukari Sato
is a Japanese economist and politician of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Early life and education
A native of Setagaya, Tokyo, Satō received a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Columbia University, a master's degree in internation ...
- elected to House of Councillors in 2010; returned to House of Representatives in 2014
*
Koichiro Shimizu
is a Japanese doctor and politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Kyoto, he attended Osaka Medical College and received a Ph.D. in medicine. He also stu ...
- returned in 2013-14 as replacement for
Hideo Higashikokubaru, defeated in 2014
Defeated in 2009 and did not return to the Diet
*
Etsuji Arai - left politics
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Osamu Ashitomi - left politics
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Nobuhiko Endō - left LDP to run for third parties
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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
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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
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Nobuko Iwaki - defeated in 2009 and 2012; left politics
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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
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Nobuhiro Omiya - defeated in 2009, 2012 and 2014
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Taizō Sugimura - became television personality
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Toshio Ukishima - left politics
References
{{Authority control
Political terminology in Japan