Tarō Kono

Tarō Kōno (2017)

Tarō Kōno ( Japanese 河野 太郎 , Kōno Tarō ; born January 10, 1963 in Hiratsuka , Kanagawa Prefecture ) is a Japanese politician and member of the Shūgiin , the lower house for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and acting Minister of Defense . Within the party, he belongs to the Asō faction .

Kōno studied after attending the affiliated middle and high schools at the Keiō University , then he studied at Georgetown University . During his time in the United States he worked for, among others, Democratic Senator Alan Cranston and MP Richard Shelby - then also a Democrat. After graduating in 1985, he worked for Fuji Xerox from 1986 and for the automotive supplier Nippon Tanshi from 1993.

In the 1996 Shūgiin election , Kōno was first elected to parliament for the LDP in the 15th constituency of Kanagawa. He was then able to win the constituency, which also includes his hometown Hiratsuka, four times in a row. From 2005 to 2006 he was State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice , and from 2008 he was Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee at Shūgiin. In 2009, after the resignation of Prime Minister Tarō Asō , he declared his candidacy for the election of the party leader , but was clearly subject to the more experienced Sadakazu Tanigaki .

Kōno is also visiting professor at Hōsei University and chairman of the Kanagawa Athletics Association, the Kanagawa Triathlon Association and former chairman and managing director of KK Shōnan Bellmare .

Prime Minister Shinzō Abe appointed Kōno on August 3, 2017 as Foreign Minister in the Shinzō Abe III cabinet, which had been reorganized for the third time . On September 11, 2019, Kōno moved from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Defense. His successor as foreign minister was Toshimitsu Motegi .

family

Kōnos father Yōhei was a member of parliament and president of the Shūgiin, in the 1990s LDP party leader and is president of the Japanese athletics association Nihon Rikuren (English JAAF ). His great-uncle Kenzō was a member of parliament and president of the Sangiin , the House of Lords, and from 1965 to 1975 president of the Japanese Athletics Federation. And his grandfather Ichirō was a member of parliament between 1932 and 1965, co-founder of the LDP after the end of the war, several ministers and 1965 president of the Japanese Athletics Association.

Kōno's mother is a daughter of the entrepreneur Kyōichi Itō and granddaughter of Chūbē Itō , the founder of today's trading groups Itōchū Shōji and Marubeni .

Web links

Official Website (Japanese, English, Korean, Chinese)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tarō Kōno family tree