(December 3, 1932 – October 28, 2007) 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 who served as the Chief Cabinet Secretary from 1983 to 1985. He also served as 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 ...

from 1967 to 1993, and again from 1996 to 2003. Born in Ise,

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 ...

, Fujinami was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1967 as a Liberal Democratic Party member, and was elected to the House of Representatives eleven times. Fujinami first obtained a Cabinet post in 1979 as Labor Minister under

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Masayoshi Ohira Masayoshi is a masculine Japanese given name. Written forms Masayoshi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *, "correct, justice, righteous; wherefore, a reason" *, "correct, justice, righteous; righteousness, justice, m ...

when he was serving his fifth term as a House of Representatives member. When the Nakasone government began in 1982, Fujinami was given the post of deputy chief Cabinet secretary before becoming chief Cabinet secretary in 1983. Fujinami was seen as a prospective prime minister while serving in the post of chief Cabinet secretary from 1983 to 1985, under Prime Minister Nakasone. During his two years as chief Cabinet secretary, he helped promote Nakasone's policies, including his official visit to

Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Emperor Meiji in June 1869 and commemorates those who died in service of Empire of Japan, Japan, from the Boshin War of 1868–1869, to the two Sino-Japanese Wars, First Sino-Japane ...

and the cancellation of the cap on Japan's defense budget of one percent of the

gross national product The gross national income (GNI), previously known as gross national product (GNP), is the total amount of factor incomes earned by the residents of a country. It is equal to gross domestic product (GDP), plus factor incomes received from n ...

. He also helped with Nakasone's administrative reforms, including the privatization of telephone operation and

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

businesses. Fujinami resigned due to his involvement in the Recruit Company shares-for-favor scandal in the late 1980s. After Nakasone left the post of prime minister in 1987 and returned to the head of an LDP faction, Fujinami supported him as

secretary general Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the faction. In 1989, Fujinami was

indicted An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an indi ...

on charges of accepting more than 40 million yen in money and unlisted shares as bribes from Recruit, a Tokyo-based job information conglomerate. The

Tokyo District Court is a district court located at 1-1-4 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. See also *Judicial system of Japan In the judicial system of Japan, the Constitution of Japan guarantees that "all judges shall be independent in the exercise of thei ...

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an o ...

Fujinami in 1994, but the

Tokyo High Court is a high court in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The is a special branch of Tokyo High Court. Japan has eight high courts: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Sendai, Sapporo, and Takamatsu. Each court has jurisdiction over one o ...

reversed the decision in 1997, sentencing him to three years in prison, suspended for four years. The decision was finalized by the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in 1999. Fujinami retired from politics in 2003 citing health reasons. He died at a hospital in

, according to the LDP. , - , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fujinami, Takao Government ministers of Japan 1932 births 2007 deaths Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Japanese politicians convicted of corruption Waseda University alumni People from Ise, Mie Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2000–2003 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1996–2000 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1990–1993 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1986–1990