Hikaru Matsunaga

Hikaru Matsunaga (松永 光, Matsunaga Hikaru, 23 November 1928) is a Japanese legislator and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) politician who briefly served as finance minister from 27 January to 30 July 1998.

Hikaru Matsunaga
松永 光
Minister of Finance
In office
27 January 1998 – 30 July 1998
Prime MinisterRyutaro Hashimoto
Preceded byHiroshi Mitsuzuka
Succeeded byKiichi Miyazawa
Minister of International Trade and Industry
In office
9 August 1989 – 28 February 1990
Prime MinisterToshiki Kaifu
Preceded bySeiroku Kajiyama
Succeeded byKabun Mutō
Minister of Education
In office
1 November 1984 – 28 December 1985
Prime MinisterYasuhiro Nakasone
Preceded byYoshirō Mori
Succeeded byToshiki Kaifu
Personal details
Born (1928-11-23) 23 November 1928
Minamikushiyama, Japan
Political partyLiberal Democratic Party of Japan
Alma materWaseda University

Early life and education

Matsunaga was born in 1928.[1] He is a graduate of Waseda University's law school.[2]

Career

Matsunaga is an attorney and prosecutor.[3] He began his career as a public prosecutor in southern regions of Japan in the 1950s.[4] Later he became a member of the LDP,[4] being a member of the Seirankai.[5] Matsunaga was education minister in the mid-1980s.[2] He served as minister of international trade and industry.[6] He was appointed by Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu to this post on 9 August 1989.[7]

Then he was appointed by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto as the minister of finance on 27 January 1998.[8] Matsunaga replaced Hiroshi Mitsuzuka as finance minister.[9] Mitsuzuka was forced to resign due to corrupt behaviour of the officials at the ministry.[10] In April 1998, Matsunaga reported that 112 ministry officials would be punished due to their excessive entertainment from banks, brokerage firms and insurers under their supervision.[11] Matsunaga's term as finance minister lasted short, and he resigned on 30 July 1998, replaced by Kiichi Miyazawa, another veteran LDP politician.[12]

In addition to these cabinet roles, Matsunaga held the following positions in the Diet: Chairman of the lower house budget committee until 1998,[9] director of the Diet education committee and vice-chairman of the PARC education division.[13] He lost his seat in the lower house election on 25 June 2000.[14]

References
  1. "Japan's finance ministers". Rulers. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  2. David Holley (31 January 1998). "New Finance Minister Appointed in Japan". Los Angeles Times. Tokyo. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  3. Robert Neff (8 March 1998). "Are Japan's Prosecutors on a Secret Mission?". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  4. Mark Tannenbaum; Phred Dvorak (1 February 1998). "Bribery charges hit Japan's rescue plan". The Independent. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  5. James Babb (2012). "The Seirankai and the Fate of its Members: The Rise and Fall of the New Right Politicians in Japan". Japan Forum. 24 (1): 75–96. doi:10.1080/09555803.2011.637637.
  6. "New Japanese finance minister". BBC. 30 January 1998. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  7. Sam Jameson (10 August 1989). "Japan's new prime minister Kaifu appoints two women to cabinet". Schenectady Gazette. Tokyo. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  8. Ian Preston (2001). A Political Chronology of Central, South and East Asia. London: Europa Publications. – via Questia (subscription required)
  9. "Matsunaga appointed as new finance minister". The Japan Times. 30 January 1998. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  10. "A man with yen". The Economist. 19 February 1998. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  11. "Japan Disciplines 112 Finance Officials". The New York Times. p. 5.
  12. "Matsunaga expects economy to recover under Miyazawa". Kyodo News. Tokyo. 30 July 1998. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  13. Leonard J. Schoppa (Winter 1991). "Zoku Power and LDP Power: A Case Study of the Zoku Role in Education Policy". Journal of Japanese Studies. 17 (1): 79–106. doi:10.2307/132908. JSTOR 132908.
  14. Barbara Wanner (30 June 2000). "Ruling parties hang on to lower house majority, endorse Mori as premier". Japan Economic Institute. 25.
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