Masahiko Kōmura

Masahiko Kōmura 高村正彦
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan
In office September 26, 2007 – September 24, 2008
Prime Minister	Yasuo Fukuda
Preceded by	Nobutaka Machimura
Succeeded by	Hirofumi Nakasone
Personal details
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party

Masahiko Kōmura (高村 正彦, Kōmura Masahiko^?, born March 15, 1942) is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party. He was Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and again from 2007 to 2008, and he is a member of the House of Representatives for the First District of Yamaguchi Prefecture.^[1]

Kōmura was born in Ehime Prefecture and graduated from Chuo University. He later passed Japan's bar exam and then immediately entered politics. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in the June 1980 election, and has been re-elected in each election since then. He became Director-General of the Economic Planning Agency (as a Minister of State) in June 1994, Minister for Foreign Affairs in July 1998, and Minister of Justice in December 2000. In August 2007, under Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, he became Minister of Defense.^[1] Following Abe's resignation in September 2007, Kōmura became Minister for Foreign Affairs for a second time on September 26, 2007, in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.^[2] He remained in that post until he was replaced by Hirofumi Nakasone in the Cabinet of Taro Aso, appointed on September 24, 2008.^[3]

Kōmura is also the President of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union. He is known to have strong ties within China's political circles. Kōmura leads a small faction of the LDP named after himself and ran for LDP president in 2003, but was defeated by Junichiro Koizumi.^[4]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Profile of Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko KOUMURA", Foreign Ministry website.
2. ^ "Fukuda Cabinet launched / Changes minimized to reduce impact on Diet business", The Yomiuri Shimbun, September 26, 2007.
3. ^ "Aso elected premier / Announces Cabinet lineup himself; poll likely on Nov. 2", The Yomiuri Shimbun, 25 September 2005.
4. ^ Japan Times, "Fukuda's new linuep", August 3, 2008, P. 3.

Political offices
Preceded by Nobutaka Machimura	Minister for Foreign Affairs 2007–2008	Succeeded by Hirofumi Nakasone
Preceded by Yuriko Koike	Minister of Defence 2007	Succeeded by Shigeru Ishiba
Preceded by Okiharu Yasuoka	Minister of Justice 2000–2001	Succeeded by Mayumi Moriyama
Preceded by Keizō Obuchi	Minister for Foreign Affairs 1998–1999	Succeeded by Yōhei Kōno
Preceded by Yoshio Terazawa	Director of Economic Planning Agency of Japan 1994–1995	Succeeded by Isamu Miyazaki

Persondata
Name	Komura, Masahiko
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1942
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death