is a Japanese politician who served in 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 ...

between 1972 and 2012, and as

Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare The is a member of the Cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The minister is nominated by the Prime Minister of Japan and is appointed by the Emperor of Japan. Minister Takamaro Fuk ...

from 2001 to 2004.

Early life

He was born in

Mie Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture an ...

and obtained an MD from

Mie University Mie University (三重大学; ''Mie Daigaku'', abbreviated to 三重大 ''Miedai'') is a national university in Tsu, Mie Prefecture, Japan. As with other national universities, Mie University has been a National University Corporation since Apr ...

. After qualifying as a physician, he worked at the Mie Red Cross Blood Center.

Political career

He first ran for the

as a member of Komeitō in the 1972 general election, and won a seat representing

. Sakaguchi was Minister of Labor in the 1993-94 coalition cabinet led by

Morihiro Hosokawa is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1993 to 1994. He led an eight-party coalition government which was the first Japanese government not headed by a Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), Libera ...

. After the coalition government collapsed, he was the second-ranking officer of three other political parties, New Frontier Party (1994), Shintō Heiwa (1997), and

New Komeito Party , formerly New Komeito (NKP) and commonly referred to as simply Komei, is a political party in Japan founded by the leader of Soka Gakkai, Daisaku Ikeda, in 1964. It is generally considered centrist and socially conservative. Since 2012, it ha ...

(1999).

Mori and Koizumi Cabinet positions

In December 2000, he was appointed Minister of Health and Welfare and Minister of Labor in the LDP-Liberal-Komeito coalition cabinet of

Yoshirō Mori is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party from 2000 to 2001. He was unpopular in opinion polls during his time in office, and is known for making controversial statements, bot ...

. The ministries merged in 2001, making Sakaguchi the first individual to hold the combined position of Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. He retained this position under

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) ...

until September 2004. As Health and Welfare Minister, Sakaguchi delivered an apology to

Hansen's disease Monster Beverage Corporation is an American beverage company that manufactures energy drinks including Monster Energy, Relentless (drink), Relentless, Reign (drink), Reign and Burn (energy drink), Burn. The company was originally founded as Ha ...

patients who were subjected to forced sterilization under the former Japanese eugenics protection law. He later advocated in the Diet for compensating the victims of these practices, and described them as "an egregious violation of human rights." Following Japan's first BSE outbreak in 2001, Sakaguchi introduced testing of all slaughtered cattle in Japan, which continued through the last year of his tenure. He also dealt with record unemployment rates, and oversaw the implementation of reforms to the employment insurance and pension system. He was described by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training as "one of the busiest of all the ministers" during this time.

Retirement

Sakaguchi retired from the House of Representatives prior to the 2012 general election due to a party rule that forbade support for candidates over the age of 66. He thereafter became a special advisor to the New Komeito Party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakaguchi, Chikara 1934 births Living people Politicians from Mie Prefecture Ministers of labour of Japan Ministers of health and welfare of Japan Ministers of health, labour and welfare of Japan 20th-century Japanese physicians Komeito politicians New Komeito politicians New Frontier Party (Japan) politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1986–1990 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1993–1996 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1996–2000 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2000–2003 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2003–2005 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2005–2009 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2009–2012 Scientists from Mie Prefecture