Yukio Edano

Yukio Edano (枝野 幸男, Edano Yukio, born 31 May 1964) is a Japanese politician and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet. He served as Chief Cabinet Secretary and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) cabinet between 2010 and 2012.[1] He has served as the head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan[2] since its formation in October 2017.

Yukio Edano
枝野 幸男
Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent
Assumed office 23 October 2017
Monarch	Akihito Naruhito
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Seiji Maehara
Leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 October 2017
Deputy	Akira Nagatsuma
Preceded by	Position established
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry
In office 12 September 2011 – 26 December 2012
Prime Minister	Yoshihiko Noda
Preceded by	Yoshio Hachiro
Succeeded by	Toshimitsu Motegi
Chief Cabinet Secretary
In office 4 January 2011 – 2 September 2011
Prime Minister	Naoto Kan
Preceded by	Yoshito Sengoku
Succeeded by	Osamu Fujimura
Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs
In office 14 January 2011 – 2 September 2011
Prime Minister	Naoto Kan
Preceded by	Sumio Mabuchi
Succeeded by	Tatsuo Kawabata
Minister of Foreign Affairs Acting
In office 7 March 2011 – 9 March 2011
Prime Minister	Naoto Kan
Preceded by	Seiji Maehara
Succeeded by	Takeaki Matsumoto
Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs
In office 10 February 2010 – 8 June 2010
Prime Minister	Yukio Hatoyama
Preceded by	Yoshito Sengoku
Succeeded by	Renhō
Member of the House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 July 1993
Constituency	Saitama-5th (2000–present) Kita-Kantō PR (1996–2000) Saitama-5th (1993–1996)
Personal details
Born	(1964-05-31) 31 May 1964 Utsunomiya, Japan
Political party	CDP
Other political affiliations	JNP (1992–1994) NFP (1994–1998) DPJ (1998–2016, merger) DP (2016–2017, split)
Spouse(s)	Kazuko Edano
Children	2
Alma mater	Tohoku University
Website	www.edano.gr.jp

Early life

Edano was born in Utsunomiya on 31 May 1964. He is named after Japanese progressive liberal political figure Yukio Ozaki, who Edano's father admired. Edano graduated from Tohoku University with a degree in law, and passed the Japanese bar examination at the age of 24.[3]

Political career

In the 1993 general election, at the age of 29, Edano joined Morihiro Hosokawa's Japan New Party and won a seat in the Saitama 5th district.[3] He participated in the formation of the "Old" DPJ in 1996.

As a legislator, Edano played a role in the government response to the HIV-tainted blood scandal of 1995 and the financial industry reorganization of 1998.[3]

Edano was appointed as the secretary general of the DPJ in March 2010 when it was the country's ruling party. Katsuya Okada, the former Foreign Minister, subsequently replaced him in September 2010.

Chief Cabinet Secretary

with James Steinberg 27 January 2011

In January 2011, Edano became Chief Cabinet Secretary.[4] In March 2011, he was temporarily appointed head of the Foreign Ministry.[5]

In the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, he was the face of the government efforts to combat the aftermath, frequently appearing on television to talk about the problems at the two reactor facilities in Fukushima. Because of the frequency of his appearances, Twitter users concerned with his health were prompted to post messages asking him to get some sleep. The Twitter hashtag "#edano_nero" became popular, from the imperative word for sleep! (寝ろ, nero) in Japanese.[6][7]

Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry

As economy minister, Edano approved the introduction of feed-in tariffs on 18 June 2012, whereby a percentage of energy use fees are used to subsidize (a shift to) renewable energy.[8]

Post-cabinet

15 July 2013

Edano left the Cabinet following the DPJ's defeat in the December 2012 general election, but retained his seat representing the Saitama 5th district.

Edano was named secretary general of the DPJ in September 2014. He retained this position in the Democratic Party following the merger of the DPJ with the Japan Innovation Party in March 2016.[9]

DP leader Renho resigned in July 2017 after the party suffered a poor result in the 2017 Tokyo assembly election. Edano ran in the subsequent leadership election, facing an opponent from the conservative wing of the party in Seiji Maehara. With the liberal wing of the party losing clout due to the influx of conservative Japan Innovation Party members after the merger, Edano only managed to garner 40% of the points up for grabs in the election.[10] In an attempt to unify the party, the freshly-elected leader Maehara appointed Edano as the deputy president.[11]

Constitutional Democratic Party

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a surprise announcement for a snap election on 25 September 2017, only three weeks after the DP leadership election. With the party unprepared and in disarray, Maehara was scrambling to find a way to shore up support for the party. At the same day as Abe's election announcement, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike launched a new conservative party called Kibō no Tō (Party of Hope). Seeing Koike's high popularity at that time as a potential asset, Maehara coordinated with Koike on DP candidates' nominations for the election. Koike agreed to endorse DP candidates and Maehara effectively disbanded the party in order to allow the candidates run under the Kibō banner. However, despite Maehara's request, Koike imposed an ideological filter that effectively barred liberal-leaning members of the DP, such as Edano, from joining Kibō. Edano then decided to form a separate party to house liberal DP members rejected by Koike.[12]

On 2 October 2017, Edano launched the Constitutional Democratic Party as a split from the Democratic Party, becoming the party's leader.[13] Despite being formed only less than three weeks before the election, the CDP ran a very efficient campaign with a principled platform and used social media in a level unprecedented in Japanese politics.[14][15] Edano led the party to become the second largest party in the Diet in the general election. He currently serves as Leader of the Opposition.

Family

Edano is married and has twin sons.[3]

References

1. Reuters, "Japan picks Edano as trade min after predecessor gaffe", 11 September 2011
2. "Edano's new liberal party to field more than 50 candidates in Lower House election". October 4, 2017 – via Japan Times Online.
3. "Yukio Edano Profile". Retrieved July 14, 2016.
4. "Kan revamps cabinet to boost his popularity". Japan Today. Kyodo News. January 14, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
5. "Edano named as temporary minister: Kan". The Japan Times. March 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
6. "Tireless Edano Earns Twitter Respect". The Wall Street Journal. March 14, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
7. "Japan earthquake: Yukio Edano, the 'Jack Bauer' of the crisis". The Telegraph. March 15, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
8. Gerhardt, Tina (July 22, 2012). "Japan's People Say NO to Nuclear Energy". Alternet.
9. "Okada to appoint Edano as secretary-general of new Democratic Party". The Mainichi. March 24, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
10. "Long-suffering Democratic Party elects Maehara". Asahi Shimbun. September 1, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
11. "Ex-prosecutor to be tapped for Democratic Party's No. 2 slot". Asahi Shimbun. September 3, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
12. "Edano plans to form new party as liberal force in election". Asahi Shimbun. October 2, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
13. "2017 Lower House Election / Edano announces launch of new party of liberals". Yomiuri Shimbun.
14. Martin, Alex; Kikuchi, Daisuke (October 22, 2017). "Top opposition forces see contrasting fates after poll". Japan Times. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
15. Penn, Michael (November 3, 2017). "The Reversal of Fortune". Shingetsu News Agency. Retrieved December 18, 2017. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

External links

Media related to Yukio Edano at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website (in Japanese)

House of Representatives of Japan
Preceded by Hiroshi Sawada Nobuhiko Fukunaga Kazuhito Wada	Representative for Saitama 5th district (multi-member) 1993–1996 Served alongside: Kiyoshi Ueda, Kaneshige Wakamatsu, Nobuhiko Fukunaga	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Representative for the Kita-Kantō PR block 1996–2000
Preceded by Nobuhiko Fukunaga	Representative for Saitama 5th district 2000–present	Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Banri Kaieda	Chairperson of the Policy Affairs Research Council of the Democratic Party 2002–2004	Succeeded by Yoshito Sengoku
Preceded by Ichirō Ozawa	Secretary General of the Democratic Party of Japan 2010	Succeeded by Katsuya Okada
New title	Secretary General of the Democratic Party 2016–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Yoshito Sengoku	Minister of State for Government Revitalisation 2010	Succeeded by Renhō Murata
	Chief Cabinet Secretary 2011–present	Succeeded by Osamu Fujimura
Preceded by Sumio Mabuchi	Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs 2011–present	Succeeded by Tatsuo Kawabata
Preceded by Seiji Maehara	Minister of Foreign Affairs Acting 2011	Succeeded by Takeaki Matsumoto
Preceded by Yoshio Hachiro	Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry 2011–2012	Succeeded by Toshimitsu Motegi