Yoshitada Konoike

Yoshitada Kōnoike (2013)

Yoshitada Kōnoike ( Japanese 鴻 池 祥 肇 , Kōnoike Yoshitada ; born November 28, 1940 in Amagasaki , Hyōgo Prefecture ; † December 25, 2018 ) was a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a member of the Sangiin , House of Lords, and former Minister for Civil protection. In the LDP he belonged to the Asō faction . From 2008 to 2009 he was Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary in the Asō cabinet .

Life

Kōnoike studied at the Faculty of Education at Waseda University . In 1980 he became chairman of the Japan Junior Chamber . In 1986 he was elected to the Shūgiin , the lower house, for the first of two legislative terms . In 1991 he was Parliamentary State Secretary ( 政務 次 官 seimujikan ) in the Okinawa Development Authority under Prime Minister Miyazawa . In 1993 he lost his constituency.

In the 1995 Sangiin election , Kōnoike was first elected to the Sangiin for Hyōgo Prefecture (two-mandate constituency) and re-elected in 2001, 2007 and 2013. Since then he has been chairman of the building committee, the budget committee and the special committee for the state flag and national anthem. In the first reshaped cabinet of Prime Minister Jun'ichirō Koizumi , Kōnoike became Minister of State for Disaster Management and Structural Reform in Special Areas ( 構造 改革 特別 区 kōzō kaikaku tokubetsuku ) in 2002 . In September 2003 he was replaced by Kiichi Inoue .

In 2005, Kōnoike was one of the Sangiin MPs who initially voted against the post-privatization law of Prime Minister Koizumi, but followed the will of the party leadership after the party exclusions in Shūgiin and the Shūgiin election in 2005 . Under the chairman Shinzō Abe he was deputy chairman of the Executive Council of the LDP from 2006 to 2007.

In September 2008, the party chairman and Prime Minister Tarō Asō Kōnoike appointed as Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary. In January 2009, the Democratic opposition accused him of having an affair with a woman seen in his MPs' apartment and called for his resignation. Kōnoike rejected the allegations and ruled out resigning, but was reprimanded by Chief Cabinet Secretary Kawamura and apologized for his behavior, which left room for misleading interpretations.

In May 2009, he resigned, citing "personal reasons" after a magazine reported in detail how he took a Shinkansen ticket for business purposes for a weekend with a lover in Atami .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Upper House postal rebel would change stance if LDP wins. In: The Japan Times . September 10, 2005, accessed January 28, 2009 . 
2. ^ Four LDP rebels say they will back postal bills after election. In: The Japan Times . September 11, 2005, accessed January 28, 2009 . 
3. ↑ Masami Itō: Deputy chief Cabinet secretary's alleged affair heaps further woes on Aso. In: The Japan Times . January 16, 2008, accessed January 28, 2009 . 
4. ↑ Govt's Konoike urged to quit over 'affair'. (No longer available online.) In: Yomiuri Shimbun . January 16, 2009, formerly in the original ; accessed on January 15, 2009 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
5. ↑ Konoike rapped over alleged affair. (No longer available online.) In: Yomiuri Shimbun . January 17, 2009, formerly in the original ; accessed on January 28, 2009 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
6. ↑ Masami Itō: Cabinet member exits after tryst. Konoike lived it up with lover in Atami: weekly. In: The Japan Times . May 14, 2008, accessed May 14, 2009 . 

Web links

• Official Website (Japanese)
• Kantei : Brief CV (English)