Makiko Tanaka

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Template:Short description Template:Infobox officeholder Template:Nihongo is a Japanese politician. She is the daughter of former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and his official wife Hana.

Early life

Tanaka attended high school at Germantown Friends School in the United States and graduated from Waseda University. She spent most of her early adulthood working with her father's political machine Etsuzankai, and was first lady to her father since her mother, Hana, was absent due to long-standing illness. She was elected to the Lower House in 1993, shortly after her father's death.<ref name="Japan Zone">Template:Cite web</ref>

Makiko Tanaka (left) visits with the United States Navy dive team engaged in the salvage and recovery operation of Ehime Maru off Oahu, Hawaii on September 9, 2001.

Career

Tanaka was the first female foreign minister of Japan, from April 2001 to January 2002, but was fired from the cabinet after making remarks critical of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Koizumi had also made indirect negative remarks toward Tanaka shortly before her removal as Foreign Minister.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Later that year, she was expelled from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and barred from party membership for two years.

In August 2002, Tanaka resigned from the Diet after allegations that she had embezzled her secretaries' civil service salaries. A Tokyo court cleared her in September, and she ran for the Diet again as an independent in November 2003.<ref name="NYT">Template:Cite news</ref>

Her husband Naoki Suzuki, whom she married in 1969 was adopted as an adult into her family, because she has no brothers to carry on the family name.

In August 2009, Tanaka and her husband joined the opposition Democratic Party of Japan.<ref name="CCTV">Template:Cite web</ref> In September 2009 she became the Diet chairperson of the Committee on Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.<ref name="DPJ">Template:Cite web</ref> In September 2011 she became the Diet chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. On October 1, 2012, she became Minister of Education, Culture, Science, Sports, and Technology, as part of a reshuffle of the Yoshihiko Noda Cabinet.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On November 2, 2012 she denied applications for three new universities, contradicting a report the previous day that had endorsed the establishment of the universities. It had been 30 years since a minister had contradicted the ministry in such a way.<ref>Daily Yomiuri "Tanaka denies 3 proposed new universities November 3, 2012</ref> This sparked a large amount of criticism and after pressure from within the DPJ she reversed her decision and approved the applications.<ref>Daily Yomiuri DPJ pressured Tanaka's reversal / Ruling party members wanted education minister to approve universities November 9, 2012</ref>

She lost her seat in the December 16, 2012 general election.<ref>Japan Times Nothing left for the election-gutted DPJ to do but rebuild December 18, 2012</ref> She left office on 26 December 2012.

Publications

References

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