is a

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese economist and former politician of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Early life and education

A native of

Setagaya, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood and administrative district within the ward. Its official bird is the azure-winged magpie, its flower is the Habenaria radi ...

, Satō received a bachelor's degree in political science from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, a master's degree in international affairs from

, and a Ph.D. in economics from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. She also studied abroad in the University of Paris (Nanterre) and the

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (, abbreviated IHEID), commonly referred to as Geneva Graduate Institute, is a graduate-level research university in Geneva, Switzerland dedicated to international relations, dev ...

in Geneva. She began her economic career in 1998 as an economist at Nikko Citigroup Securities, and then worked for JPMorgan Securities and finally as chief economist at Credit Suisse First Boston in Japan. While being economist in the financial industry, Sato also served as a member of the Industrial Structure Council of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), a member of the Working Group on Taxation Problems of the Ministry of Finance (MOF), an advisor to LDP’s committee on fiscal reconstruction, as well as providing policy recommendations to members of the Bank of Japan’s Policy Board, and other ministries, including the Cabinet Office, of the Japanese government.

Political career

Satō was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

for the first time in 2005, as part of a group of candidates of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) hand-picked by Prime Minister

Junichiro Koizumi Junichiro Koizumi ( ; , ''Koizumi Jun'ichirō'' ; born 8 January 1942) is a Japanese retired politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ...

. Sato was sent to the constituency of Seiko Noda, the Gifu 1st district, with Noda having left the LDP after opposing Koizumi's plan to privatize

Japan Post was a Japanese statutory corporation that existed from 2003 to 2007, offering postal and package delivery services, Retail banking, banking services, and life insurance. It is the nation's largest employer, with over 400,000 employees, and ru ...

. Noda prevailed in the district, but Sato won a seat through the

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

list. Sato and Noda publicly made amends prior to the 2009 general election, in which Sato was assigned to run for a different seat, the Tokyo 5th district. In the wake of the overwhelming victory of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in the 2009 general elections, Sato also lost the race in the Tokyo 5th district, but was elected to the

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers (Japan), House of Peers. If the t ...

in 2010. After serving almost five years in the House of Councillors, LDP sent Sato back to the House of Representatives to run for the Osaka 11th district in the 2014 general election, in which she won. In December 2012, Sato was appointed to the Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry, to formulate the growth policy for “the Abenomics,” at the time Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took over the government from DPJ. In October 2018, Sato was appointed as the State Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, to handle Japan’s telecommunications policy in such cutting-edge areas as 5G, IoT, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as broadcasting and the Japan Post group. During her time 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), Sato also served on many committees and held several party offices, including: * Vice Chairman, LDP Committee on Science, Technology and Innovations *Vice Chairman, LDP Committee on Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Policies *Vice Chairman, LDP Committee on Tourism Nation Building *Deputy Chairman, LDP Committee on Foreign Affairs and Economic Pact Agreements (EPAs) *Chairman, Special Committee on Consumer Problems of the House of Councillors *Chairman, LDP Members’ Association to Consider Japan’s Prosperity in Global Society *Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry * Deputy Secretary-General of LDP * Deputy Chairman, LDP Policy Board in the House of Councillors * Minister of State for Economic, Fiscal and Finance Policy of LDP's Shadow Cabinet * Vice-Chairman, Committee on Organizations Involved with Public Finance, Finance and Securities of LDP

References

External links

*
Yukari's Economist

Sato's official Twitter account
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sato, Yukari 1961 births Living people People from Setagaya Women members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Koizumi Children Japanese economists Japanese women economists Sophia University alumni School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University alumni Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies alumni New York University alumni Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians 21st-century Japanese women politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2005–2009 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2014–2017