Ryosei Akazawa

Ryōsei Akazawa is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party and member of the House of Representatives in the Diet, representing the Tottori [2nd district] in Tottori Prefecture.

Early life

Akazawa was born into a former samurai family. His great-grandfather, Kohei, was a samurai who served the Hachisuka Clan, the Lords of Tokushima, and later became an industrialist. In the 1890s, he moved to what is now Akazawa's constituency to build a railway line. Akazawa's grandfather, Masamichi Akazawa, studied at the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo and served as a parliamentarian for over two decades. He held the position of Minister for Home Affairs in Hayato Ikeda's cabinet.
Akazawa grew up in Bunkyō, Tokyo, and attended the Junior and Senior High School at Komaba. He went on to study law at UTokyo, following in his grandfather’s footsteps. After graduating, Akazawa joined the civil service at the Ministry of Transport. In 1985, he had a life-changing experience when a Boeing 747 crashed with 524 people on board, killing all but four. He was working at the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau at the time, and his team was directly responsible for handling the aftermath of the accident. Another disaster he dealt with at the Ministry was the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995. After experiencing these events, Akazawa developed a strong sense that saving lives and managing risk were his primary missions.
Akazawa earned an MBA from Cornell University in the United States in 1991.

Akazawa was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in the 2005 Japanese general election where he was one of the so-called "Koizumi Children" elected amid the popularity of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He was re-elected in the 2009 general election and the 2012 general election, and every election since. As of 2025, he is the current representative of the Tottori 2nd electorate.
Akazawa gained some notoriety in August 2011 after berating Economy Minister Banri Kaieda for twenty minutes on the floor of the Diet over the ministry's handling of the Fukushima disaster, ultimately bringing Kaieda to tears. Kaieda resigned several days later.
In October 2024, he was appointed Minister of Economic Revitalization, Minister in Charge of New Capitalism, Minister in Charge of Wage Improvement, Minister in Charge of Startups, Minister in Charge of All-Generation Social Security Reform, Minister in Charge of Infectious Disease Crisis Management, and Minister in Charge of Preparation for the Establishment of the Disaster Prevention Agency.
Ever since he was first elected, Akazawa has been known as the closest aide to Prime Minister Ishiba, who is elected from the other constituency in Tottori prefecture. Akazawa refers to himself as Premier Ishiba’s left-hand person, explaining on his post on X that calling himself the Prime Minister’s right-hand would feel too arrogant, while aide would sound as though he were the premier’s brain.