Heizo Takenaka
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Secretary | Shinzo Abe |
| Internal Affairs | Heizo Takenaka |
| Justice | Seiken Sugiura |
| Foreign Affairs | Taro Aso |
| Finance | Sadakazu Tanigaki |
| Education | Kenji Kosaka |
| Health | Jiro Kawasaki |
| Agriculture | Shoichi Nakagawa |
| Economy | Toshihiro Nikai |
| Land | Kazuo Kitagawa |
| Environment | Yuriko Koike |
| Defense | Fukushiro Nukaga |
| Ministers of State | Tetsuo Kutsukake, Kaoru Yosano, Koki Chuma, Iwao Matsuda, Kuniko Inoguchi |
Heizo Takenaka (竹中平蔵 Takenaka Heizō, born March 3, 1951) is a Japanese economist and politician, last serving as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications and Minister of State for Privatization of the Postal Services in the cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
[edit] Academic life
Takenaka was the second son of a shoe seller in Wakayama City. He attended Hitotsubashi University to study under Ichiro Nakayama and graduated with a BA in Economics in 1973. While at Hitotsubashi, he played the mandolin, and met his wife (a student at Tsuda College) through his mandolin club.
In 1973, Takenaka entered the Development Bank of Japan. He was transferred into its Institute for Capital Investment Studies in 1977.
In 1981, he left the DBJ to study for a year at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, where he researched capital investment in the United States. The product of his research, the 1984 book Development Studies and Capital Expenditure Economics, won the Suntory Liberal Arts Prize.
Takenaka then worked in the Ministry of Finance as a money supply researcher. He initially planned to stay for two years, but ended up working there for five years, from 1982 to 1987.
He later completed his Ph.D. at Osaka University. He taught as an associate professor at Osaka (1987 - 89) and Harvard (1989 - 90), and received tenure in the Public Policy faculty of Keio University.
[edit] Political life
Takenaka was picked by Koizumi to become the Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2001. In this capacity, Takenaka has become one of the most prominent voices in the ongoing debate over the privatization and breakup of Japan Post. After Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party crushing victory in the 2005 General Election, Takenaka assumed his last position as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Takenaka won his first election in 2004 and until recently held a proportional representation seat in the House of Councillors.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by: Taro Aso |
Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan 2005– |
Succeeded by: Yoshihide Suga |
