Yuko Obuchi (小渕優子, ''Obuchi Yūko;'' born 11 December 1973) 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 politician. She is a member of 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 Liberal Democratic Party. She briefly served as

Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry The is a member of the Cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The minister is also a statutory member of the National Security Council (Japan), National Security Council, and is nomin ...

during the Abe government, but was forced to resign. She is the second daughter of Keizo Obuchi, who served as

Prime Minister of Japan The is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its ministers of state. The prime minister also serves as the commander-in-chief of the Japan Self-Defense Force ...

from 1998 to 2000.

Early life

Obuchi was born in Tokyo in 1973. She graduated from

Seijo University is a private university in Seijō, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan. It is operated by the Seijo Gakuen institute. History Seijo University has its origins in , which was founded in 1917 by Masataro Sawayanagi, a former minister of education. U ...

and joined the broadcaster TBS in 1996.

Political career

Obuchi began working as an aide to her father in 1999. She was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in the 2000 general election, winning her late father's Diet seat after his death in office.

Aso government

On September 24, 2008, Obuchi was appointed Minister of State for Social Affairs and Gender Equality in the cabinet of Prime Minister Tarō Asō. This made her Japan's youngest cabinet member in the post-war era.

Abe government

In December 2012, she was appointed Vice Minister of Finance by the new Prime Minister

Shinzō Abe Shinzo Abe (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 2020. He was the longest-serving pri ...

, and on 3 September 2014, she was made Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in Abe's cabinet. As such, she became the minister responsible for the nuclear industry in Japan, with partial responsibility for the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which r ...

clean-up. She was viewed at the time as a potential candidate for prime minister. Obuchi resigned from her position as the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry on October 19, 2014, amid allegations of misuse of political contributions. Her departure was seen as a blow to the Abe government. An investigation committee found in October 2015 that Obuchi had no legal responsibility for the scandal, as the false entries had been made by two of her aides without her knowledge.

Personal life

Obuchi is married and has two sons. Her husband, Kazuaki Setoguchi, joined TBS at the same time as Obuchi in 1996. They married in December 2004 after dating for several years.

References

External links

* Children of prime ministers of Japan Government ministers of Japan Women government ministers of Japan Women members of the House of Representatives (Japan) People from Bunkyō Politicians from Tokyo Politicians from Gunma Prefecture Living people 1973 births Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians 21st-century Japanese women politicians Seijo University alumni Waseda University alumni 20th-century Japanese women Members of the House of Representatives from Gunma Prefecture Ministers of economy, trade and industry of Japan Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2012–2014 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2014–2017 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2017–2021 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2021–2024 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2024– {{Japan-politician-1970s-stub