Toshiko Matsuo

Toshiko Matsuo was a Japanese politician. She was one of the first group of women elected to the House of Representatives in 1946, serving in parliament until 1960.

Biography

Born in Yokohama in 1907, Matsuo was educated at Ferris Japanese-English Girls' School. She became an English teacher at the Yokohama YMCA and established her own school, which later became the Japan Women's English Academy.
Matsuo contested the 1946 general elections as a Japan Socialist Party candidate in Kanagawa, and was elected to the House of Representatives. She was re-elected in 1947, 1949, 1952, 1955 and 1958 and became a member of the party's central executive committee. In 1948 Finance Minister was forced to resign after attempting to kiss Matsuo and Harue Yamashita.
After losing her seat in the 1960 elections, Matsuo unsuccessfully contested a later election as a Democratic Socialist Party candidate. She later joined the Liberal Democratic Party and became an advisor in Kanagawa Prefecture, as well as serving as chair of the Yokohama Citizens' Credit Union and president of the Matsuo Kosan company. She died in 1993.