Kiseko Takahashi

Kiyoko Takahashi (June 22, 1942 – February 22, 2020) was a Japanese politician. She held the rank of Junior Fifth Rank. She was born in Tokyo and graduated from Rikkyo University's Faculty of Letters.

According to information about her family background, her father was former Prime Minister Takeo Miki, and her mother was Mutsuko Miki. Her grandfather was Morihiro Hosokawa. Takahashi was the adopted daughter of Mutsuko Miki and her son, Riki Miki (political secretary, indigo dyeing artist; he ran in the 1996 House of Representatives election from Tokyo's 7th district as a candidate endorsed by the former Democratic Party but was not elected). She had three children in total: her son Riki Miki, who is a member of the House of Representatives and a former employee of Dentsu, and who plans to run in the 2024 House of Representatives election from Tokushima 1st district as a new Constitutional Democratic Party candidate via proportional representation; another son, Noboru Takahashi, and her eldest daughter.

Regarding her career, she served as a director of the National Invention Women’s Association and as a trustee of a university in the United States. In 1998, she was elected to the House of Councillors as an independent candidate representing Tokushima Prefecture, as a unified opposition candidate. Afterwards, she co-founded the parliamentary faction "Sakigake Environmental Conference" with Atsuo Nakamura and participated in the Green Conference. She did not run in the 2004 election and retired from politics.

Approximately six months after her election, she suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage and was hospitalized for a long period. She requested support from the Democratic Party of Japan's Tokushima Prefecture branch, with which she had a cooperative relationship, but she was unable to obtain their endorsement and decided not to run.

In addition to her political activities, she also worked as an educator. In 2005, she was appointed as a professor at Keisen Girls’ School University, teaching gender studies and environmental politics. She retired from the university in 2011.

Takashi passed away from pneumonia on February 22, 2020, at the age of 77. Upon her death, she was posthumously awarded the Junior Fifth Rank.

On policy issues, she supported the introduction of a voluntary separate surname system for married couples. She stated, "Allowing couples to have different surnames after marriage is only natural," emphasizing that, legally, there is no obligation for the husband to take the wife’s surname, but that the current customary system needs to be changed.

Related topics include the list of politicians with familial relations and the list of female members of the Japanese Diet.