Masahiko Kōmura

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 Yamaguchi 1st district. He is also the current Deputy President of his political party the Liberal Democratic Party.

Masahiko Kōmura
高村 正彦
2008
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office 26 September 2007 – 24 September 2008
Prime Minister	Yasuo Fukuda
Preceded by	Nobutaka Machimura
Succeeded by	Hirofumi Nakasone
In office 30 July 1998 – 5 October 1999
Prime Minister	Keizō Obuchi
Preceded by	Keizō Obuchi
Succeeded by	Yōhei Kōno
Minister of Defense
In office 27 August 2007 – 26 September 2007
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Yuriko Koike
Succeeded by	Shigeru Ishiba
Minister of Justice
In office 5 December 2000 – 26 April 2001
Prime Minister	Yoshirō Mori
Preceded by	Okiharu Yasuoka
Succeeded by	Hirofumi Nakasone
Director-General of the Economic Planning Agency
In office 30 June 1994 – 8 August 1995
Prime Minister	Tomiichi Murayama
Preceded by	Yoshio Terazawa
Succeeded by	Isamu Miyazaki
Personal details
Born	(1942-03-15) 15 March 1942 (age 82) Shūnan, Yamaguchi, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Alma mater	Chuo University

Kōmura was born in Ehime Prefecture on 15 March 1942. He graduated from Chuo University's faculty of law.

 

After graduation, Kōmura 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. Kōmura leads a small faction of the LDP named after himself and ran for LDP president in 2003, but was defeated by Junichirō Koizumi.

Following Abe's resignation in September 2007, Kōmura became Minister for Foreign Affairs for a second time on 26 September 2007, in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. He remained in that post until he was replaced by Hirofumi Nakasone in the Cabinet of Tarō Asō, appointed on 24 September 2008. He is vice president of the LDP.

Kōmura is also the President of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union. He is known to have strong ties within China's political circles.

Books