Taku Yamasaki
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Taku Yamasaki (山崎 拓; Yamasaki Taku, December 11, 1936) is a Japanese politician, a member of the House of Representatives of Japan. Born in Dalian, Manchukuo, he was blinded in one eye as a child. He is a graduate of Waseda University.
As a Diet member, he served as Minister of Construction, and Director General of the Defense Agency. He was a member of YKK with Koichi Kato and Junichiro Koizumi. Yamasaki was also the leader of a small faction that bore his name. In November 2000, along with Koichi Kato, Yamasaki was heavily involved in the failed intraparty coup against Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. He became Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party in 2001, and the Vice-President of the LDP in 2003.
He was frequently embroiled in sex scandals ranging from alleged sadomasochism and adultery to rape. In the 2003 election Yamasaki was defeated by Junichiro Koga of the Democratic Party. He subsequently resigned from the vice-presidency of the LDP and took on the role of a political advisor.
In 2005, re-elected to the House of Representatives by-election on Fukuoka Prefecture 2nd Electoral District and Chiefship, Special Committee on Postal Privatization.
[edit] Possible Koizumi successor
Yamasaki, Shinzo Abe, and Foreign Minister Tarō Asō, were all considered candidates to replace Koizumi after the prime minister's term expired in September 2006. All three are conservative on foreign policy issues and have taken confrontational stances toward other East Asian nations, particularly North Korea and, to a lesser extent, China. Abe is considered a more "moderate" politician than the more "hard-line" Aso, and has led Aso in opinion polling within Japan. [1] However, Abe stated that he might continue controversial Yasukuni shrine visits if he became Prime Minister. Yamasaki could be considered most "moderate" among the three as he opposes Yasukuni shrine visits by the PM.
Abe was voted Prime Minister on 26 September 2006.
