Fukushiro Nukaga

Fukushiro Nukaga
額賀 福志郎
Minister of Finance of Japan
In office 2007–2008
Prime Minister	Yasuo Fukuda
Preceded by	Koji Omi
Succeeded by	Bunmei Ibuki
Personal details
Born	11 January 1944 Namegata, Ibaraki, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Alma mater	Waseda University

Fukushiro Nukaga (額賀 福志郎 Nukaga Fukushirō, born 11 January 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 30 July 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 5 December 2000, as part of Prime Minister Yoshirō Mori's second cabinet,^[5] but he resigned on 23 January 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 31 October 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 27 August 2007.^[2] Following Abe's resignation on 12 September, Nukaga initially said that he would run for the position of LDP president (and thus Prime Minister) on 13 September, but, on 14 September, 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 26 September 2007.^[9] He was replaced in that post by Bunmei Ibuki on 1 August 2008. Nukaga is affiliated to the openly revisionist lobby Nippon Kaigi, that advocates a revision of the Constitution to restore the monarchy and militarism.^[10]

References

1. CV at government website.
2. "Abe Replaces Finance Minister; Aso to Rebuild LDP", Bloomberg.com, 27 August 2007.
3. "OBUCHI NAMES CABINET: Government to Focus on Economic Issues", web-japan.org, 31 July 1998.
4. "2ND LD: Nukaga resigns over KSD scandal, Aso takes over", Kyodo News International (Japan Policy & Politics), 29 January 2001.
5. "Mori Launches Second Cabinet: Two Ex-Prime Ministers Named to New Team", web-japan.org, 11 December 2000.
6. Norimitsu Onishi, "Conservatives lead Japan's cabinet", International Herald Tribune, 31 October 2005.
7. List of members of the cabinet of 31 October 2005, kantei.go.jp.
8. "Japan's finance chief not to run for ruling party president", iht.com, 14 September 2007.
9. "Fukuda Cabinet launched/Changes minimized to reduce impact on Diet business", The Yomiuri Shimbun, 26 September 2007.
10. Nippon Kaigi website