is a retired 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 ...

who served in 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 ...

as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Early life

A native of

Yokohama, Kanagawa is the second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a population of 3.7 million in 2023. It lies on Tokyo B ...

, Suzuki graduated from

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

. Before his political career, he worked for 15 years as a reporter for the

Mainichi Shimbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English-language news website called , and publishes a bilin ...

Political career.

Suzuki began his career in politics as a secretary for Yōhei Kōno, the current Lower House speaker. He was elected for the first time in 1986 after an unsuccessful run in 1983, both as a member of the now-defunct party New Liberal Club. Regarded as a close associate of Kono, Suzuki has been heavily involved in education and environment issues, including efforts to revise the Fundamental Law of Education under

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 ...

. Although he announced in October 2007 his intention to retire from politics at the end of this term, Suzuki was selected by Yasuo Fukuda on August 1, 2008, as the cabinet's new Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.''

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.

References

External links

Official website
in Japanese. 1941 births Living people Culture ministers of Japan Education ministers of Japan Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians New Liberal Club politicians Politicians from Yokohama Science ministers of Japan Sports ministers of Japan Technology ministers of Japan Waseda University alumni Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2003–2005 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2005–2009 {{Japan-politician-1940s-stub