Fukushiro Nukaga (額賀 福志郎 Nukaga Fukushirō, born January 11, 1944) 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] He was Minister of Finance from 2007[2] to 2008.
Nukaga was born in Asō, Ibaraki, now part of Namegata, Ibaraki. He graduated 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 Keizō 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 Yoshirō 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 Shinzō 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] He was replaced in that post by Bunmei Ibuki on August 1, 2008.
| 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 – 2008 |
Succeeded by Bunmei Ibuki |