Keiichiro Asao (浅尾 慶一郎, Asao Keiichirō, born February 11, 1964) is a Japanese politician and a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature).

Keiichiro Asao
浅尾 慶一郎
Minister of the Environment
Assumed office
1 October 2024
Prime MinisterShigeru Ishiba
Preceded byShintaro Ito
Member of the House of Councillors
Assumed office
26 July 2022
ConstituencyKanagawa at-large
In office
26 July 1998 – 18 August 2009
ConstituencyKanagawa at-large
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
30 August 2009 – 28 September 2017
ConstituencySouthern Kanto PR block
(2009-2012)
Kanagawa 4th
(2012-2017)
Personal details
Born (1964-02-11) February 11, 1964 (age 60)
Tokyo, Japan
Political partyLiberal Democratic
(since 2017)
Other political
affiliations
New Frontier
(1996-1997)
New Fraternity
(1997-1998)
Democratic
(1998-2009)
Your Party
(2009-2014)
Independent
(2014-2017)
Alma materUniversity of Tokyo
Stanford University (GSB)
Websitehttps://asao.net/
Keiichiro Asao

He has been a member of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), then of Your Party, then an independent. In September 2017, he applies to join the LDP.[1]

A native of Tokyo and graduate of the law faculty of the University of Tokyo, he joined Industrial Bank of Japan in 1987, receiving MBA in 1992 from Stanford University while working at the bank. Leaving the bank in 1995, he was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 1998 to represent Kanagawa Prefecture.[2] He was re-elected in 2004, and was appointed the Shadow Foreign Minister by the DPJ leader Seiji Maehara. He was later expelled from the DPJ after announcing he would run for a district seat in Kanagawa during the 2009 General election, joining Your Party as a founding member one month later.[3] Taking helm of the party in April 2014 after a financial scandal touching its founder,[4] he voted in favor of disbanding it in November 2014 over dissension against plans to support the LDP.[5] In October 2016 however, Asao began voting with the LDP lower house fraction,[6] and then joined the LDP in September 2017 after the announcement of anticipated elections by prime minister Abe.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "2衆院議員:浅尾慶一郎、松本剛明の両氏が自民党に入党届 - 毎日新聞". 毎日新聞 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  2. ^ 政治家情報 〜浅尾 慶一郎〜. ザ・選挙 (in Japanese). JANJAN. Archived from the original on 2007-12-08. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
  3. ^ "Ex-minister Watanabe starts new political party". The Japan Times Online. 2009-08-09. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  4. ^ Mie, Ayako (2014-04-11). "Asao takes helm of Your Party". The Japan Times Online. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  5. ^ Aoki, Mizuho; Yoshida, Reiji (2014-11-19). "Abe's snap election claims first victim as Your Party disbands". The Japan Times Online. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  6. ^ "膨張する自民…旧みんな代表・浅尾慶一郎氏も会派入り 相次ぐ入党・復党に軋轢も". 産経ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 2017-09-27.
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Political offices
Preceded by Minister of the Environment
2024–present
Incumbent