(August 22, 1938 – May 23, 2017) was 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. He was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Sunrise Party of Japan and former 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 ...

, serving his ninth term in the Lower House representing

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

's first electoral district until his defeat in the

2009 Japanese general election General elections were held in Japan on August 30, 2009 to elect the 480 members of the House of Representatives. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) defeated the ruling coalition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and New Komeito Party ...

. He was Chief Cabinet Secretary to Prime Minister

Shinzō Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving pri ...

from August 2007 to September 2007, and Minister of Economic and Fiscal Policy in Tarō Asō's administration from February to September 2009.

Political career

Born the grandson of poets

Yosano Akiko , known by her pen name Yosano Akiko (Shinjitai: , Kyūjitai: , ), was a Japanese author, poet, feminist, pacifist, and social reformer, active in the late Meiji era as well as the Taishō era, Taishō and early Shōwa eras of Japan. She is one ...

and Yosano Tekkan in Tokyo, Yosano graduated from the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

in 1963. In 1972 he unsuccessfully ran for the House of Representatives, then served as secretary to

Yasuhiro Nakasone was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1982 to 1987. His political term was best known for pushing through the privatization of state-owned companies and pursuing a hawkish and pro-U.S. fo ...

. He ran again in 1976 and was elected. On August 27, 2007, he was appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, replacing Yasuhisa Shiozaki. He was replaced by Nobutaka Machimura on September 27 when

Yasuo Fukuda is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2007 to 2008. He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving in that role from 2000 to 2004 under Prime Ministers Yoshirō Mori an ...

succeeded Abe.''

Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'', "Fukuda's new lineup", August 3, 2008. He was appointed as Minister of Economic and Fiscal Policy and Minister of Regulatory Reform on August 1, 2008. Timothy Geithner and Kaoru Yosano 20090424

Timothy Geithner and Kaoru Yosano 20090424

Following the resignation of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Yosano announced his candidacy for the LDP presidency on September 8, 2008: In the leadership election, held on September 22, 2008, Tarō Asō was elected with 351 of the 527 votes, while Yosano trailed in second place with 66 votes. In Aso's cabinet, appointed on 24 September 2008, Yosano retained his post as Minister of Economic and Fiscal Policy. On February 18, 2009, with the resignation of Shoichi Nakagawa on the case of the G7 conference, he took office as Minister of Finance and Minister in charge of financial services. On April 4, 2010, Yosano, Takeo Hiranuma,

Hiroyuki Sonoda was a Japanese politician who served in the Diet of Japan, Diet (national legislature) as a member of the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives for Kumamoto 4th district; following the 2017 general election when Kumamoto los ...

, Takao Fujii and Yoshio Nakagawa announced their plans to leave the LDP to establish a new political party, the Sunrise Party of Japan. He left the Sunrise Party on 13 January 2011 to join the

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 ...

's cabinet as Minister of Economic and Fiscal Policy. Yosano was known for advocating an increase in the

consumption tax A consumption tax is a tax levied on consumption spending on goods and services. The tax base of such a tax is the money spent on Consumption (economics), consumption. Consumption taxes are usually indirect, such as a sales tax or a value-added ta ...

to reconstruct the nation's debt-ridden fiscal structure. After joining the DPJ government, he drew up the plans for the 2012 consumption tax increase. The legislation was passed through the House of Representatives on June 26, 2012 and passed the Upper House on August 10, 2012.

Personal life and death

His hobbies included

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

, making computers, photography, fishing, and playing Japanese board games. He was a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. It was announced on September 5, 2012, that he would not run for re-election as he was suffering from throat cancer and had difficulty speaking. Yosano died on May 23, 2017. Banri Kaiedabr>
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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yosano, Kaoru 1938 births 2017 deaths Government ministers of Japan Ministers of finance of Japan Education ministers of Japan University of Tokyo alumni Japanese Roman Catholics Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Sunrise Party politicians People from Chiyoda, Tokyo Politicians from Tokyo 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