Fukushiro Nukaga

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Fukushiro Nukaga
Fukushiro Nukaga

Fukushiro Nukaga (額賀 福志郎 Nukaga Fukushirō?, born January 11, 1944 in Asou, Ibaraki, now part of Namegata, Ibaraki, Japan) is a Japanese politician and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1983 and represents Ibaraki's 2nd district.[1] Since August 2007, he has been Minister of Finance.[2]

He graduated from from Waseda University's Faculty of Political Science and Economics.[1]

He was named Minister of State and head of the Japan Defense Agency on July 30, 1998, under Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi,[3] serving in that position until November 1998, when he resigned due to a scandal.[4] He was named Minister of State in charge of economic and fiscal policy, as well as IT policy, on December 5, 2000, as part of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's second cabinet,[5] but he resigned on January 23, 2001, following criticism regarding 15 million yen he had received from the mutual aid foundation KSD. He said that his secretary had received the money and that it had been returned, but apologized and said that he took "final responsibility as a supervisor". Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said that the government believed Nukaga's explanation.[4] Nukaga returned to the position of Minister of State and head of the Japan Defense Agency on October 31, 2005, under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi,[6][7] and remained in that position until September 2006.

He was appointed Minister of Finance by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a cabinet reshuffle on August 27, 2007.[2] Following Abe's resignation on September 12, Nukaga initially said that he would run for the position of LDP president (and thus Prime Minister) on September 13, but on September 14, after meeting with Yasuo Fukuda, Nukaga announced that he would back Fukuda for the leadership.[8] Following Fukuda's victory in the leadership election, Nukuga remained as Finance Minister in Fukuda's Cabinet, sworn in on September 26, 2007.[9]

[edit] References

House of Representatives of Japan
Preceded by
Multi-member constituency
Representative for Ibaraki 1st District
1983 – 1996
Succeeded by
Office abolished
Preceded by
Office created
Representative for Ibaraki 2nd District
1996 – present
Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Koji Omi
Minister of Finance of Japan
2007 – present
Incumbent