Sanae Takaichi

Infobox Politician
honorific-prefix =
name = Sanae Takaichi
honorific-suffix =
nationality = Japanese


imagesize =
small

caption =
order = 8th Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs
office =
term_start = September 26, 2006
term_end =
deputy =
primeminister = Shinzo Abe
succeeding =
predecessor = Yuriko Koike
successor =
order2 = 9th Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy
office2 =
term_start2 = September 26, 2006
term_end2 =
predecessor2 = Iwao Matsuda
successor2 =
order3 =
office3 = 1st Minister of State for Innovation
term_start3 = September 26, 2006
term_end3 =
predecessor3 = New post
successor3 =
order4 = 2nd Minister of State for Gender Equality and Social Affairs
office4 =
term_start4 = September 26, 2006
term_end4 =
predecessor4 = Kuniko Inoguchi
successor4 =
order5 = 8th Minister of State for Food Safety
office5 =
term_start5 = September 26, 2006
term_end5 =
predecessor5 = Iwao Matsuda
successor5 =
office6 = Member of the House of Representatives for Nara's 2nd district
term_start6 = September 11, 2006
term_end6 =
predecessor6 = Minoru Taki
successor6 =
majority6 = 92,096 (47.43%)
birth_date = birth date and age|1961|3|7
birth_place = Flagicon|Japan Nara, Nara,
Japan
death_date =
death_place =
party = Liberal Democratic Party (1996-present)
New Frontier Party (1994-1996)
Liberal Party (Japan) (1994)
spouse = Taku Yamamoto
relations =
children = None
residence =
alma_mater = Kobe University
occupation =
profession = Faculty
religion = N/A


website = http://rep.sanae.gr.jp/
footnotes =

nihongo|Sanae Takaichi|高市早苗|Takaichi Sanae|extra=born March 7, 1961 served in the following positions: Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, Minister of State for Innovation, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Gender Equality [Although the term "Youth Affairs" is used in its official English title, the original Japanese title nihongo|"shōshika"|少子化| is more aptly translated as "diminishing birth rate issue".] and Minister of State for Food Safety in the Japanese Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Born and raised in the city of Nara, Takaichi graduated from to Nara Prefectural Unebi Senior High School for her secondary education, then she received Bachelor of Business Administration from Kobe University in 1984.

She graduated from Matsushita Institute of Government and Management. In 1987, she moved to the United States to work for Democratic U.S. Representative Patricia Schroeder as a Congressional Fellow.

When Takaichi returned to Japan on 1989, she gained attention from the mass media as a legislative analyst with experience in the US Congress, and wrote books based on the experience. In 1992, she formed Kansai Hi-Vision Consortium and presided as the first chairperson.

In 1993, Takaichi ran as an independent candidate for the House of Representatives of Japan, Nara Prefectural district and won the most votes. She joined the "Liberals" study group of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), lead by Koji Kakizawa, which became part of the New Frontier Party.

In 1996, Takaichi ran as sanctioned candidate from New Frontier Party and reelected to the House of Representatives (lower house). However New Frontier Party lost nationally. On November 5, she responded to recruitment from the Secretary-General of LDP Koichi Kato, and, then, joined the LDP. Act of switching the party, two months after winning the election with anti-LDP votes resulted in heavy criticism from the New Frontier Party members.

In the LDP, Takaichi belonged to the Mori Faction (formally, the Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyū-kai) and she served as a Parliamentary Vice Minister for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry under Keizo Obuchi cabinet. She also served as chairman of Education and Science Committee. In 2000, House of Representatives election she was placed in the first position in proportional representation ballot from LDP and easily won her third term.

In 2002 she was appointed as the Senior Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry under Junichiro Koizumi. However in 2003 lower house election, the first since she switched parties with her own name on the ballot, she lost, despite of the high profile standing she had in the party and the cabinet.

In 2004 she took a faculty position at Kinki University. She married Taku Yamamoto who is a fellow member of the House of Representatives.

On September 2005, she was enlisted by Junichiro Koizumi to run as an "assassin" against Minoru Taki who was ejected from the party due to his opposition to Koizumi's postal reform. Takaichi was quoted as saying "Taki-sensei took very good care of me and his daughter is like my little sister* when she was asked to run against Taki. She did agree to run against Taki and she returned to her fourth term in the lower house.

Trivia

*Takaichi played drums in a heavy metal band during her undergraduate years.

External links

* [http://rep.sanae.gr.jp/ Official website]

Notes