Yoshimi Watanabe
| Yoshimi Watanabe | |
|---|---|
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| Born | March 17, 1952 |
| Nationality | Japanese |
Yoshimi Watanabe (渡辺 喜美 Watanabe Yoshimi?, born 17 March 1952) is a Japanese politician, member of Initiatives from Osaka, formerly of the Liberal Democratic Party and later the founder of Your Party. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1996 to 2014, and returned to the Diet (national legislature) in 2016 as a member of the House of Councillors.
Watanabe is a native of , (now part of the city of ) and graduated from Waseda University and Chuo University.
His father is Michio Watanabe, a major political figure first elected to the Diet while Watanabe was in junior high school.
Watanabe developed an interest in politics soon after his father was elected to office, and served as his father's secretary during the elder Watanabe's appointments as Minister of International Trade and Industry and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Yoshimi Watanabe's nephew Michitaro Watanabe is also a politician (member of the House of Councilors).
Following his father's death in 1995, Watanabe was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in the 1996 general election, representing the , a newly created seat in his father's previous constituency in . Watanabe continues to represent the district today and is the only person to have held the seat, having successfully defended it in five subsequent general elections.
He was tapped by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to lead an administrative reform commission studying the potential for implementing the dōshūsei federal government system in Japan, and served in this capacity from 2006 to 2007. From October 2007 to August 2008, he served as Minister of State for Financial Policy and Administrative Reform in Yasuo Fukuda's cabinet. In April 2008, he urged the U.S. government to use public funds to solve the deepening subprime mortgage crisis, stating that "if there is a big hole in the bottom of the tub, no matter how much hot water you keep adding, you will never have enough hot water."
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