Tarō Asō

Tarō Asō (麻生 太郎, Asō Tarō), born on September 20, 1940, is a Japanese politician affiliated with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He served as the Prime Minister of Japan from September 2008 to September 2009. Additionally, he held the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance from December 2012 to 2021, becoming the longest-serving individual in Japan's history to hold both roles simultaneously. Asō also served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2007 and as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications from 2003 to 2005. He leads the Shikōkai faction within the LDP.

Asō was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1979. Throughout his political career, he has held multiple ministerial cabinet positions. He was appointed Secretary-General of the LDP in August 2008 and was elected LDP President in September 2008, subsequently becoming Prime Minister. In 2009, following an electoral defeat that marked only the second time in post-war Japan that a governing party lost re-election, he resigned as party president.

After the 2012 general election, which brought the LDP back to power under Shinzo Abe, Asō was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. He continued in these roles during Yoshihide Suga's tenure as Prime Minister from 2020 onwards. Following his departure from cabinet, he has served as the vice president of the LDP under Fumio Kishida and as a senior advisor to the party under Shigeru Ishiba.

Born in Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, Asō is the eldest son of Takakichi Asō and Kazuko, his wife. The Asō family has maintained prominence since the Meiji era, originally establishing a coal mining enterprise through his great-grandfather Takichi Asō. His maternal lineage includes Shigeru Yoshida, who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and again from 1948 to 1954, making Asō related by marriage to Sato Eisaku, another former Prime Minister, who served from 1964 to 1974. Through his maternal grandmother, Asō is a descendant of Toshimichi Okubo, a notable Meiji-era statesman.

Asō attended elementary school associated with the Aso Group before transferring in third grade to Gakushuin, a school traditionally attended by Japan’s aristocratic families. He graduated from Gakushuin University in 1963. Afterward, he initially took an employment examination for Sankei Shimbun but chose to continue his studies abroad. He attended Stanford University in California but did not complete his degree there; his family later arranged for him to study at the London School of Economics.

In 1966, following his studies overseas, Asō entered the family business, Aso Industry Company. During the 1960s, he lived in Brazil and became fluent in Portuguese. From 1970, he worked in Sierra Leone, representing his family in the diamond mining industry amidst the country's nationalization of resources. He returned to Japan at the onset of civil unrest. He served as president of Aso Mining Company from 1973 until 1979 and was a member of the Japanese shooting team at the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal. In 1978, he served as President of the Japan Junior Chamber.

In his early political career, Asō was elected to the House of Representatives in the 1979 election as a candidate from Fukuoka 3rd district. He transitioned control of the family business to his brother Yutaka upon taking office. He is associated with the Kochikai faction, which derives from the legacy of his grandfather Shigeru Yoshida. His marriage to Chikako Suzuki, daughter of Prime Minister Zenkō Suzuki, took place on November 3, 1983.

Asō’s first cabinet position was Minister of State and Director General of the Economic Planning Agency under Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto in November 1996, a role he held until September 1997. He was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications in 2003 and became Minister for Foreign Affairs in October 2005. His appointment to Foreign Minister has been viewed as influenced by intra-party factional considerations.

He was a candidate to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 but lost to Shinzo Abe in the LDP leadership race. Asō served as Secretary-General of the party in August 2008 before being elected as the President of the LDP in September of that year. Following Fukuda Yasuo’s resignation as Prime Minister, Asō was elected as the next Prime Minister in September 2008 and officially appointed by the Emperor. During his tenure, he assembled a cabinet with several first-time ministers, including the youngest in the post-war era, Yuuko Obuchi.

Asō’s foreign visits have included a notable trip to the United States in February 2009, where he met with President Barack Obama—the first foreign leader to do so during President Obama’s administration.