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 who is serving as the
Speaker of the House of Representatives since October 2023. A member of the
Liberal Democratic Party, he has been 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 ...
since 1983 and represents
Ibaraki's 2nd district.
[CV at government website]
He was previously the
Minister of Finance from 2007 to 2008,
["Abe Replaces Finance Minister; Aso to Rebuild LDP"]
Bloomberg.com, 27 August 2007 and served twice as
Director-General of the Japan Defense Agency and
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary.
Career

Nukaga was born in
Asō, Ibaraki, now part of
Namegata, Ibaraki. He graduated from
Waseda University's Faculty of Political Science and Economics.
[ After working as a reporter for the Sankei Shimbun, he entered politics and was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in ]1983
1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
. He joined the Tanaka faction when elected, but along with most of the faction he later joined the Keiseikai founded by Noboru Takeshita
was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1987 to 1989.
Born in Shimane Prefecture, Takeshita attended Waseda University and was drafted into the army during the Pacific War. He was first elected to the National Diet ...
, which was later renamed the Heisei Kenkyūkai.
He was named Minister of State and Director General of the Japan Defense Agency on 30 July 1998, under Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi, serving in that position until November 1998, when he resigned due to a scandal.["2ND LD: Nukaga resigns over KSD scandal, Aso takes over"]
Kyodo News International (''Japan Policy & Politics''), 29 January 2001. He was named Minister of State in charge of economic and fiscal policy, as well as IT policy, on 5 December 2000, as part of Prime Minister Yoshirō Mori's second cabinet, but he resigned on 23 January 2001, following criticism regarding 15 million yen he had received from the mutual aid foundation KSD. He said that his secretary had received the money and that it had been returned, but apologized and said that he took "final responsibility as a supervisor". Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said that the government believed Nukaga's explanation.[
Nukaga served as chairman of the LDP Policy Research Council from September 2003 to September 2004. He returned to the position of Minister of State and Director General of the Japan Defense Agency on 31 October 2005, under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and remained in that position until September 2006.
He was appointed Minister of Finance by Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in a cabinet reshuffle on 27 August 2007.][ Following Abe's resignation on 12 September, Nukaga initially said that he would run for the position of LDP president (and thus Prime Minister) on 13 September, but, on 14 September, after meeting with Yasuo Fukuda, Nukaga announced that he would back Fukuda for the leadership. Following Fukuda's victory in the leadership election, Nukuga remained as Finance Minister in Fukuda's Cabinet, sworn in on 26 September 2007. He was replaced in that post by Bunmei Ibuki on 1 August 2008.
Nukaga was reelected in the August 2009 House of Representatives election, which was otherwise disastrous for the LDP. Nukaga was chosen to replace the retiring Yuji Tsushima as head of the Heisei Kenkyūkai. After the LDP returned to government with the 2012 election he became subcommittee chairman of the LDP Tax System Research Commission. In April 2015 he also became chief of the LDP "Headquarters for accelerating reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake".
On 8 February 2018, Nukaga announced his intent to resign from his position as head of Heisei Kenkyūkai. This followed a rebellion in which faction members in House of Councillors led by Hiromi Yoshida threatened to leave the faction unless there was change in leadership. In March he handed over the leadership to Wataru Takeshita, the half-brother of the faction's founder. After that, Nukaga became chief advisor of the faction.]
In September 2019 Nukaga left the position of subcommittee chairman and became an advisor of the LDP Tax System Research Commission. He remained an authority in the field of economic policy within the LDP. In December 2021 he was chosen as chief of the new LDP "Headquarters for promoting fiscal consolidation."
In October 2023 Nukaga was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, after Hiroyuki Hosoda resigned for health reasons.
Nukaga is affiliated with the conservative lobby Nippon Kaigi.[Nippon Kaigi website]
Election history
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nukaga, Fukushiro
1944 births
Living people
Waseda University alumni
Government ministers of Japan
Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians
Ministers of finance of Japan
Members of Nippon Kaigi
Ministers of defense of Japan
Speakers of the House of Representatives (Japan)
Politicians from Ibaraki Prefecture
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
Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2014–2017