Taro Kono
Taro Kono is a Japanese politician who served as the Minister for Digital Transformation from 2022 to 2024. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he previously served as Minister for Administrative Reform and Regulatory Reform from 2015 to 2016 and from 2020 to 2021, and was the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He is also a member of the House of Representatives representing Kanagawa's 15th district since 1996.
Born in 1963 the eldest son of House Speaker and LDP President Yōhei Kōno, Kono grew up in a political family. Originally planning to study economics in Japan, he dropped out to attend Georgetown University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service in 1983. After working in the private sector for more than a decade, Kono was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1996. In his career in the House, Kono served on various committees before running in the 2009 LDP leadership election; after losing to Sadakazu Tanigaki, he became Deputy Secretary-General of the LDP. After two years in the opposition, the LDP returned to power in the 2012 general election, while Kono remained a backbencher.
In October 2015, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appointed Kono Minister for Administrative Reform and Regulatory Reform, a position he served in for less than year before resigning amidst a cabinet reshuffle. Kono returned to government in 2017 as Foreign Minister under Abe. His tenure oversaw a trade dispute with South Korea and deepening of ties with the United States. After about two years in that role, Abe designated Kono as Minister of Defense in 2019. As Defense Minister, he presided over the cancellation of the Aegis Ashore missile defense system, a more tense relationship with China, and the strengthening of security partnerships with nations in the Indo-Pacific. After Abe resigned in 2020, he was succeeded by Yoshihide Suga who retained Kono in his cabinet. Kono returned to his prior role as the Administrative Reform Minister, organizing Japan's vaccine rollout in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Suga supported Kono to replace him as party president in the 2021 LDP leadership election, losing to Fumio Kishida in a second round run-off. After spending less than a year in the backbenches, Kono was appointed Digital Affairs Minister by Kishida in 2022. In this role he attempted to revive the My Number card system, and rolled out reforms for thousands of regulations in an effort to cut down on bureaucratic red tape. After Kishida resigned, he ran for party leadership for the third time in the 2024 LDP presidential election, coming in eighth place. He subsequently resigned as Digital Affairs Minister and has since continued as a backbencher in the Diet.
Kono has developed a reputation as a political maverick, with a tendency to hold positions on issues contrary to his party. Belonging to the conservative and centre-right Shikōkai faction, he is considered a centrist within the LDP, supporting same-sex marriage and more acceptance of immigrants into Japan. Kono also favors a strong national defense, strengthening alliances with the US and Canada, as well as Pacific partners like Australia and South Korea, and is a proponent of the concept of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. He is also known for his large following on social media and his fluency in English. Kono has long been speculated as a potential future prime minister, running for party leadership three times.
Early life and education
Taro Kono was born on 10 January 1963, in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, the oldest of the three children of Yōhei Kōno, a former President of the Liberal Democratic Party and Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was born into a family of politicians: his father, his grandfather Ichirō Kōno, and his great-uncle Kenzō Kōno, were all active in Japanese politics.Kono attended Hanamizu Elementary School, Keio Middle School, and then Keio Senior High School. In 1981, he entered Keio University to study economics but dropped out in order to study in the United States.
In 1982, he went to the United States, where he attended Suffield Academy and Georgetown University, and studied comparative politics. In 1983, he worked for Senator Alan Cranston in his campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. He also worked for then Representative Richard Shelby of Alabama for two years. He also spent time at the Warsaw School of Economics, Poland, during which he spent a night in prison after visiting the home of Solidarity leader, Lech Wałęsa. Kono later said his visits abroad helped him see Japan "in an objective way".
Kono graduated from Georgetown University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service and the following year he joined Fuji Xerox. He moved to Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific in Singapore in 1991. In 1993, he joined , a supplier of electric components for Toyota, General Motors, Panasonic, and other companies.
Political career
Member of the House of Representatives
Kono was first elected to the House of Representatives of Japan as a Liberal Democratic member in the October 1996 general election, at age 33. He won a closely contested election in the newly created Kanagawa 15th district covering the cities of Hiratsuka and Chigasaki, adjacent to his father's constituency in the Kanagawa 17th district. He has since been re-elected six times in 2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2014, respectively. His winning majority increased from 13,297 in 1996 to 63,058 in 2000, 71,968 in 2003, and 103,280 in 2005. The total number of votes he received in 2005 was 186,770, the second largest number in Japan's electoral history.Kono has been a member of five standing committees of the House of Representatives: Economy; Environment; Health, Labour, & Welfare; Trade & Industry; and Finance. In addition, he has been a member of two special committees: Consumer Affairs, and Children & Youth Affairs.From January to October 2002, Kono was Parliamentary Secretary for Public Management, responsible for administrative reforms, local governments, and "e-government." From November 2005 to September 2006 he was Senior Vice Minister of Justice in Koizumi's government.
In October 2002, Kono was named Director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives. He resigned from this position two months later in protest over the Iraq War, accusing Foreign Minister Kawaguchi of not adequately explaining the government's policy.
Kono was the Acting Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party Committee until November 2003 and was one of the few members of the LDP to oppose the dispatch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.
In 2004, Kono, then 41, was appointed Assistant Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party, and was also elected Prefectural Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party in Kanagawa Prefecture. He was the youngest Prefectural Chairman in the LDP. In 2005, he led the Party in Kanagawa in the general election.
In 2004, Kono co-sponsored the Economic Sanction Amendment to the Foreign Exchange Law, which gives the government power to unilaterally declare economic sanctions on any state; and the Port Closure Bill, which allows the government to refuse the entry of foreign ships from Japanese ports. His website states that "North Korea was the target." He also sponsored a United Nations Reform Bill that would have required the government to reduce its voluntary contributions to the UN Systems by 10 percent each year until changes were made in the membership of the Security Council.
Kono resigned as head of the Kanagawa LDP following the 2007 local elections, in which the LDP-supported candidate Tadashi Sugino lost to incumbent Shigefumi Matsuzawa. He became head of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee in September 2008.
Kono ran for President of the LDP in 2009, but was defeated by Sadakazu Tanigaki.
Kono replaced Hiroyuki Sonoda as Deputy Secretary-General of the LDP in April 2010, after Sonoda left the party to join the Sunrise Party of Japan.
Abe government
Early roles
In October 2015, Kono joined the Third Abe Cabinet as Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, Minister in charge of Administrative Reform, Minister in charge of Civil Service Reform, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety, Minister of State for Regulatory Reform and Minister of State for Disaster Management. In this role, he was responsible for coordinating security measures for the 2016 G7 summit, held in May 2016.He promoted the relocation of the Consumer Affairs Agency to Tokushima Prefecture, but postponed the full relocation due to the difficulty in carrying out duties such as responding to Diet meetings and crisis management. After Kono stepped down as Minister of Consumer Affairs, after three years of consideration, it was announced that the full relocation of the Consumer Affairs Agency would be postponed.
He left government amidst a cabinet reshuffle in August 2016.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, named Kono Foreign Minister on 3 August 2017, replacing Fumio Kishida, who had served in that role since 2012 and had rarely publicly disagreed with Abe. Kono was chosen over Katsunobu Kato, after lengthy deliberation, for his superior English ability and his grasp of international issues, despite having a reputation as an outspoken and sometimes "eccentric" politician. Foreign media reports considered Kono to be more dovish compared to Abe, and expected him to take a softer diplomatic approach to foreign policy. Many analysts were particularly optimistic that Kono would adopt his father's friendly attitude toward China.File:河野外務大臣によるマハティール・マレーシア首相表敬.jpg|thumb|Kono met with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in July 2018.
Later that month, Kono visited the United States where he called for ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which the US has not yet ratified.
As foreign minister, Kono was responsible for coordinating Japan's response to the North Korean crisis. He publicly urged countries to cut diplomatic and economic ties with North Korea following the announcement of enhanced sanctions by the US government in September 2017. Kono also reportedly pressed Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif to increase Iranian pressure on North Korea. Kono's father publicly criticized the government's approach to the crisis, claiming that it should be more cooperative with the Chinese government.
After the 2017 general election, which delivered a fresh majority for the LDP in the House of Representatives, Abe retained Kono as Foreign Minister in his fourth cabinet. Late in the evening of 15 April 2018 in the flurry of exchanges after the tripartite missile strikes on Syria, Kono received the first official visit from the Chinese counterpart since November 2009. The Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited for several days during the leadup to Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe's visit to President Trump later that month. Kono was the first Japanese FM to host an official Chinese FM visit for nearly a decade,
Kono's past business, as well as political ties to the United States, make him very appealing to serve as Foreign Minister. Abe said of Kono appointment, "He has been to the United States many times and made friends there. He has also had exchanges with American politicians. I'm sure he'll serve with an understanding of how to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance". Prime Minister Abe has made it explicitly clear that by appointing Kono to the position of Foreign Minister, he was trying to strengthen the already formidable Japanese American alliance. Kono's appointment to Foreign Minister has also been well received by Japan's surrounding neighbors”. Some Foreign Ministry officials say the appointment of Kono will be viewed favorably by China and South Korea. Abe retained Kono again during his second reshuffle for his fourth cabinet.
As the foreign minister at the time, he was considered a leading figure behind a trade dispute with South Korea although he was considered friendly with the country. He is also known as a leading figure of cancellation of Aegis ashore project. At the end of his tenure in September 2019, Kono made over 100 visits to 59 countries.