was a Japanese

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

of the

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 ...

who served as a member of the

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers (Japan), House of Peers. If the t ...

in the

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

(national legislature) from 1992 to 2010.

Early life

She was born in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

(then under Japanese administration) and graduated from

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

in 1967. She passed the bar examination on her third attempt in 1969 and was admitted to the bar in 1972.

Political career

She was elected for the first time in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

as a representative of Tokyo in the House of Councillors. In the 2004 election she switched to the national proportional representation slate. From January to November 1998, she served as the president of the

. She announced her retirement from politics at the end of 2009, which became effective following the 2010 election. In 2002, she proposed a bill to create an enhanced version of life imprisonment for serious offenses, with the ultimate goal of sparking debate about the abolition of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

in Japan.

Post-political career

She was co-managing partner of the law firm of Hamayotsu & Hamayotsu in Kojimachi, Tokyo. In 2011, she became an adjunct professor of law at Soka University.

Death

On February 16, 2023, Komeito announced that Hamayotsu died in November 2020 at age 75.

References

External links

* Government ministers of Japan Members of the House of Councillors (Japan) Women government ministers of Japan Women members of the House of Councillors (Japan) Japanese women lawyers Keio University alumni Politicians from Taipei 1945 births Living people New Komeito politicians 20th-century Japanese lawyers 21st-century Japanese lawyers 20th-century women lawyers 21st-century women lawyers Members of Sōka Gakkai {{Japan-politician-1940s-stub