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Friday June 1, 3:43 AMProfile of Norihiko Akagi, picked as new farm minister(Kyodo) _ Norihiko Akagi, who is set to be named as new farm minister to replace Toshikatsu Matsuoka, who committed suicide last month, was born on April 18, 1959, in Ibaraki Prefecture.Akagi graduated from the University of Tokyo's Law Faculty in 1983 before joining the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. He left the farm ministry to run in the 1990 House of Representatives election and became the youngest elected member of the parliament at age 30. He is currently serving his sixth term. Akagi, 48, belongs to the governing Liberal Democratic Party's faction led by former Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura. Akagi served as senior vice minister at the former Defense Agency, which has now been upgraded to the Defense Ministry, under the first Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Abe's predecessor. He also served as chairman of the House of Representatives special committee on abduction issues and vice chairman of the LDP's Policy Research Council. While he has earned the nickname "prince of the Komura faction," some party members express concern over his weak negotiation skill. Abe appears to hope that Akagi will help refresh his Cabinet's image and will be instrumental in controlling Japan's farm interest groups through his expertise in farm politics, sources familiar with the matter have said. Akagi is a grandson of Munenori Akagi, who has served as agriculture and forestry minister six times since 1957, in addition to director general of the former Defense Agency. |
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