Kichirō Tazawa

Tazawa was born in 1918.[1][2] He was a native of Inakadate, Aomori Prefecture.[3][2]

Tazawa was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.[4] He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1960 and served there until 1996 when he lost his seat in the election.[4] From 24 December 1976 to 28 November 1977 he was the director of national land agency.[5]

He was appointed minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries on 30 November 1981 in a cabinet reshuffle and succeeded Takeo Kameoka in the post.[6] The cabinet was headed by Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki.[6] Tazawa was in office until 26 November 1982.[6] He was appointed Minister of State, Director-General of the Japan Defense Agency (today defense minister) on 24 August 1988 in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita.[1][7] He replaced Tsutomu Kawara in the post who resigned from office.[8] Tazawa retained his post in the late December 1988 reshuffle.[7] He was in office until 3 June 1989 when Taku Yamasaki was appointed to the post.[1] Then he retired from politics and was appointed president of Hirosaki Gakuin University.[4] He served in the post until his death.[4]

Tazawa's wife managed a large farm in Aomori which is one of the significant agricultural and fishing regions in Japan.[3] Tazawa died of esophagus cancer at a hospital in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, on 12 December 2001.[9]