is a former member of the

Japanese House of Representatives The is the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors is the upper house. The composition of the House is established by and of the Constitution of Japan. The House of Representatives has 465 members, elected for ...

for the

Aichi 7th district Aichi 7th district (愛知県 ��区, ''Aichi-ken- ai-anaku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives of Japan, House of Representatives, the lower house of the national Diet of Japan. It covers the Commuter town, com ...

. Yamao was a member of the

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan The (CDP or CDPJ) is a social-liberal political party in Japan. It was founded in October 2017 as a split from the Democratic Party ahead of the 2017 general election. In late 2020, the party was re-founded following a merger with majori ...

from 2017 to 2020. She was the policy chief of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and a former

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

member of the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic ...

. She has been elected to the Japanese

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 ...

thrice. She rose to prominence by criticizing Prime Minister

Shinzo 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 ...

for not handling the issue of nursery school waiting lists. Yamao is opposed to the

Trans-Pacific Partnership The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), or Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, was a highly contested proposed trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim economies, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Sin ...

, saying that the deal does not protect Japan's national interests.

Political career

Entry into politics

Rise into prominence

Allegations of affair and resignation

Following allegations of an extramarital affair with Rintaro Kuramochi published in ''

Shukan Bunshun A week is a unit of time equal to seven days. It is the standard time period used for short cycles of days in most parts of the world. The days are often used to indicate common work days and rest days, as well as days of worship. Weeks are oft ...

'', Yamao resigned from the Democratic Party. She denied having the affair and maintained that the allegations were false. Her resignation was viewed as an attempt to control damage within the

, which was struggling with fledgling support at that time. The allegations did not dent her popularity back in her home district. Although she had to run as an independent, she was able to hold her

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

in the election on 22 October 2017 by a narrow margin of 834 votes. Her advocacy and her status as a prominent Diet rival to Prime Minister Abe were touted as the main reasons of her high support in the district, particularly among swing voters. Her tough stance against Abe made her a constant target of right-wing campaigners. After her win, a rumor of voting fraud in the district was spread and the local election office was bombarded with calls and

emails Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...

claiming that she was illegitimately elected.

Post 2017 election

Yamao applied to join the new progressive

Constitutional Democratic Party The Constitutional Democratic Party (russian: Конституцио́нно-демократи́ческая па́ртия, translit=Konstitutsionno-demokraticheskaya partiya, K-D), also called Constitutional Democrats and formally the Party of P ...

after the 2017 election. The CDP did not grant her party membership straight away but allowed her to sit as independent member in the CDP caucus in the House of Representatives. Her entry application was approved on 26 December 2017. She filed a notice of withdrawal on 18 March 2020 and was accepted on 24 March 2020.

Involvement in the special mission of the Kishida Cabinet

After the

assassination of Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan and a serving member of the House of Representatives, was assassinated on 8 July 2022 while speaking at a political event outside Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara City, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Whil ...

on 8 July 2022, the longstanding ties between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party with the

Unification Church The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or " Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Sp ...

(UC) gained huge coverage by the Japanese media and plunged the Kishida Cabinet's approval. The UC was known for their predatory fundraising, known locally as

spiritual sales Fortune telling fraud, also called the bujo or egg curse scam, is a type of confidence trick, based on a claim of secret or occult information. The basic feature of the scam involves diagnosing the victim (the "mark") with some sort of secret p ...

, which was specifically targeting Japanese people. After Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled his second cabinet, Minister of Digital Affairs

Taro Kono is a Japanese politician serving as the Minister of Digital Affairs of Japan since August 2022. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he previously served as Minister for Administrative Reform and Regulatory Reform from 2015 to 2016 and fro ...

, who was also given the special mission of consumer affairs and food safety, established the "Spiritual Sales Review Committee" to obtain suggestions from experts of cult-related frauds. Shiori Kanno was one of the eight members initially elected into the committee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamao, Shiori 21st-century Japanese women politicians 21st-century Japanese politicians Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan politicians Democratic Party (Japan, 2016) politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1974 births Living people