is a former

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 for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the leader of the LDP Shisuikai faction (informally called the Nikai faction), who served as the Secretary-General of the LDP from 2016 to 2021. He was previously the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. Nikai is currently retired, after thirteen terms in the Lower House representing Wakayama's Third District.''

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", 3 August 2008. He is widely considered to be "Japan's most pro-China lawmaker". He has also been criticized for

misogynistic Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practis ...

views expressed in the past, and caused controversy when he invited women to "look, but not talk" at key party meetings. On 31 October 2021, he was elected for the thirteenth time in Japan's 49th general election to 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 ...

. At the age of 82 years and 8 months, he was the oldest winner in the election. Also Nikai is Director of the Liberal Democratic Party’s 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo Promotion Headquarters, President of the National Travel Industry Association , and President of the Japan–China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union.

Early life

Nikai was born in Gobō,

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture to ...

. His father was an assemblyman in the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly who had little time for his son; his mother Kikue was the daughter of a physician and, unusual for that time for a woman in Japan, was a physician herself. He initially attended Inahara Elementary School, but at the end of

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he transferred to Gobō Elementary School. While attending Gobō Middle School, he participated in an extracurricular debating society, where he addressed the human rights issues facing the

Burakumin The are a social grouping of Japanese people descended from members of the feudal class associated with , mainly those with occupations related to death such as executioners, gravediggers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, and tanners. Bura ...

, citing The Broken Commandment, a novel by Tōson Shimazaki. After graduation from Wakayama Prefectural Hidaka High School, Nikai attended

Chuo University , commonly referred to as or , is a private research university in Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan. The university finds its roots in a school called Igirisu Hōritsu Gakkō (English Law School), which was founded in 1885, and became a university in 1 ...

in Tokyo, graduating with a

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Some law degrees are professional degrees that are prerequisites or serve as preparation for legal careers. These generally include the Bachelor of Civil Law, Bachelor of Laws, an ...

in 1961. He immediately entered politics, working as secretary for Saburo Endo, a Diet member from Shizuoka who was serving as the Minister of Construction.

First election successes

After Endo's death, Nikai returned to Wakayama, where he won a seat on the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly in 1975. He was elected to the

in 1983. He was a member of

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 ...

's faction within the Liberal Democratic Party, but left the party in 1993 to join the Japan Renewal Party (''Shinseitō''). As a member of the JRP, he served as Vice-Minister of Transportation under

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 ...

in 1990.

Party membership

He was later a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

, Conservative Party, and New Conservative Party, independent parties in coalition with the LDP. As Secretary-General of the NCP and part of the governing coalition, he served as Minister of Transportation under Keizō Obuchi and Yoshirō Mori. After the NCP merged with the LDP in 2003, Nikai became an LDP member again, and was appointed Director of the General Affairs Bureau in 2004.

Member of Koizumi Cabinet

In 2005, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi tapped Nikai to head the Diet committee in charge of the privatization of

Japan Post was a Japanese statutory corporation that existed from 2003 to 2007, offering postal and package delivery services, Retail banking, banking services, and life insurance. It is the nation's largest employer, with over 400,000 employees, and ru ...

. Following the general elections of that year, on 31 October, Koizumi selected Nikai to head the

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry The , METI for short, is a ministry of the Government of Japan. It was created by the 2001 Central Government Reform when the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) merged with agencies from other ministries related to economic acti ...

, traditionally one of the most highly valued cabinet portfolios.

LDP senior politician

Later, under Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Nikai was returned to the post of Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry on 1 August 2008. Nikai is known to have strong ties with Chinese leaders and accompanied relief supplies to

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

after the earthquake there in June 2008. In the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso, appointed on 24 September 2008, Nikai was retained as Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. Nikai was appointed LDP Secretary General by party president

Shinzo 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 (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...

in August 2016. Following Abe's resignation in September 2020, the new party president Yoshihide Suga decided to retain Nikai in this role. On 25 March 2024, Nikai announced that he would not run for reelection in the next House of Representatives election after his Shisuikai faction disbanded in the wake of the 2023–2024 Japanese slush fund scandal. Nikai also assumed political responsibility for the scandal after Shisuikai failed to declare 35.26 million yen ($233,000) in revenues from ticket sales of its fundraising parties from 2017 to 2022. He thus retired when the House was dissolved in October 2024.

Remarks

Tetsuma Esaki, a former Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs is known as the second side of Nikai. Because, Nikai was a second side of Masumi Esaki, the father of Tetsuma. Kakuei Tanaka, a former

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 ...

and Shin Kanemaru, a former Deputy Prime Minister of Japan both have the coined title of "Master of Nikai".

Policy and advocacy

He is considered to be one of the leading pro-China lawmakers, and is the President of the Japan–China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union (from 2023). It has assumed the interests of the LDP in China. In the past, he has been a member of a parliamentary group that supports the Beijing Olympics, and is a politician who has had close ties with China for many years.

Election history

References