is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party, a member of 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 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 ...

, and general secretary of the ruling Democratic Party. A native of

Nirasaki, Yamanashi is a city in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 28,150 in 12831 households, and a population density of 210 persons per km². The total area is . Geography Nirasaki is located in the northwestern end of the K ...

, and graduate of

Tsuru University Tsuru University (都留文科大学 ''Tsuru Bunka Daigaku'', literally Tsuru University of Humanities) is a small municipal university located in Tsuru City, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. The university has around 3,000 students and 85 faculty. ...

, he was elected to the

House of Representatives of Japan 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 a fo ...

in 1990, where he served for two terms until 1996 when he failed to be re-elected. He was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 1998.

Career before politics

Koshiishi was an elementary school teacher for 26 years.The Japan Time
Koshiishi still siding with Ozawa September 17 2011
Retrieved on August 12, 2012 He became involved in union activities through the Japan Teachers Union (Nikkyoso), becoming the chair of the executive committee of the Yamanashi branch in 1984, and Chair of the Yamanashi Trade Union Confederation in 1986. Subsequently, he became the director of the Yamanashi Prefecture Educational Research Institute in 1997.House of Councilors websit
List of the members - Mr. KOSHIISHI Azuma November 10 2010
Retrieved on August 13, 2012

Political career

Koshiishi was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, representing the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

. He was re-elected in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, serving two terms as a lower-house lawmaker and participated in the formation of the predecessor to the Democratic Party of Japan, but was not re-elected in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

.The Asahi Shimbu
Profile of Azuma Koshiishi: Symbol of party unity will have to overcome past grudges August 31 2011
Retrieved on August 13, 2012 He was elected to the House Councillors for the first time in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and re-elected in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. In January 2016 he announced that he would not seek a fourth term and was replaced by Democratic Party candidate at the July 2016 election.

As DPJ General Secretary

Koshiishi became general secretary of the DPJ on August 31, 2011, the first upper house member of the party to occupy the position, and at 75 years of age, the oldest person ever to become general secretary of the party. His appointment happened as

Yoshihiko Noda is a Japanese politician. He is the current leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), and has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2000. From 2011 to 2012, he was the Prime Minister of Japan. Noda entered po ...

replaced

Naoto Kan is a Japanese former politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) from June 2010 to September 2011. Kan was the first Prime Minister since the resignation of Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 to ...

as president of the ruling DPJ and therefore prime minister of Japan.

Ichiro Ozawa , also known mononymously as , is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder who played for 28 seasons. He played the first nine years of his career with the Orix BlueWave of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and the next 12 years w ...

, former DPJ president and powerbroker, had wanted

Banri Kaieda is a Japanese politician who is serving as the Speaker of the House of Representatives (Japan), Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan since 2021. A member of the House of Representatives of Japan, he also served as the President ...

in the role of DPJ president instead of Noda. Koshiishi had close ties to Ozawa and Noda appointing him was an attempt at achieving party unity. The attempt was ultimately unsuccessful, as despite Koshiishi attempting to smooth over differences, following Noda's administration passing an increase to the consumption tax from 5% to 10% through the lower house of the diet Ozawa and dozens of lawmakers from his faction left the party in July 2012 to form

People's Life First was a short-lived list of political parties in Japan, political party in Japan. It had 37 out of the 480 seats in the House of Representatives of Japan, House of Representatives, and 12 in the 242-member House of Councillors. On 28 November 2012, ...

. Koshiishi was re-appointed general secretary by Noda in September 2012. After Noda won re-election as DPJ president on September 21 he asked Koshiishi to remain in office. Koshiishi refrained from accepting the post again, but accepted it two days later, on September 23. Just as his initial appointment had been, his reappointment was another attempt to unify the party.

References

External links

Official website
in Japanese. , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Koshiishi, Azuma 1936 births Living people Democratic Party of Japan politicians Japanese educators Japanese trade unionists Members of the House of Councillors (Japan) Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Politicians from Yamanashi Prefecture Activists from Yamanashi Prefecture

Career before politics

Political career

As DPJ General Secretary

See also

References

External links