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Seiichi Eto

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Seiichi Eto
衛藤 晟一
Official portrait, 2019
Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety
In office
11 September 2019 – 16 September 2020
Prime MinisterShinzo Abe
Preceded byMitsuhiro Miyakoshi
Succeeded byShinji Inoue
Ministerial offices
Minister of State for Declining Birth Rates
In office
11 September 2019 – 16 September 2020
Prime MinisterShinzo Abe
Preceded byMitsuhiro Miyakoshi
Succeeded byTetsushi Sakamoto
Minister of State for Ocean Policy
In office
11 September 2019 – 16 September 2020
Prime MinisterShinzo Abe
Preceded byMitsuhiro Miyakoshi
Succeeded byHachiro Okonogi
Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs
In office
11 September 2019 – 16 September 2020
Prime MinisterShinzo Abe
Preceded byMitsuhiro Miyakoshi
Succeeded byTaro Kono
Member of the House of Councillors
Incumbent
Assumed office
30 July 2007
ConstituencyNational PR
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
11 November 2003 – 8 August 2005
ConstituencyKyushu PR
In office
19 February 1990 – 2 June 2000
Preceded byKeinosuke Kinoshita
Succeeded byMulti-member district
ConstituencyŌita 1st (1990–1996)
Kyushu PR (1996–2000)
Member of the Ōita Prefectural Assembly
In office
April 1979 – November 1986
ConstituencyŌita City
Member of the Ōita City Assembly
In office
1973 – March 1979
Personal details
Born (1947-10-01) 1 October 1947 (age 77)
Ōita City, Ōita, Japan
Political partyLiberal Democratic
Alma materOita University (BEc)

Seiichi Eto (衛藤 晟一, Etō Seiichi; born 1 October 1947) is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, who served as a minister of state from 2019 to 2020.

He is serving as a member of the House of Councillors since 2007, and previously served in the House of Representatives. He was a friend and adviser of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Biography

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Seiichi Eto was born on 1 October 1947 in Ōita, the capital of Oita Prefecture. He studied economics as Oita University. As a student, he was involved in right-wing student activities in opposition to the left-wing Zengakuren, which dominated campuses at the time.[1]

Eto graduated in 1970. Three years later he was elected to the Ōita City Council. He served for two terms until his election to the Ōita Prefectural Assembly in 1979. After an unsuccessful run in 1986, Eto was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1990, representing 1st Oita district.[1]

In 1994, Eto supported the idea of offering the premiership to the Japan Socialist Party Chairman Tomiichi Murayama, to realise a coalition government between the LDP and the socialists. Murayama was Eto's rival in his constituency. The fact he supported it despite being personally disadvantaged by it contributed to the idea being accepted within the LDP, leading to the birth of the Murayama Cabinet.[2]

Eto lost his seat in 2000, but was re-elected three years later. He lost his seat again in 2005, having been refused LDP endorsement due to voting against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal privatisation bill. After Koizumi was succeeded by Eto's friend Shinzo Abe, most of the postal rebels who had won reelection were readmited to the LDP. It was unclear what would happen to those of the rebels who had lost their seats, but Eto was chosen as a candidate in the proportional block for the 2007 House of Councillors election by the strong will of Prime Minister Abe. Tough the party faced a setback overall, Eto was reelected.[1][3]

When Abe returned to the premiership in December 2012, Eto became a special adviser to the Prime Minister.[1] In September 2019, Eto entered the Fourth Abe Cabinet as a Minister of State with several portfolios: Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, Consumer Affairs and Food Safety, measures against the declining birthrate and Ocean Policy. He left cabinet as Abe stepped down in September 2020.

After leaving cabinet, Eto served in the LDP as chairman of a policy committee on the declining birthrate. He also chaired the party disciplinary committee.

In July 2024, Eto expressed his intention to not run for reelection in the 2025 House of Councillors election. As a reason he noted that his son Hiroaki Etō had been selected as LDP candidate for Ōita 1st district in the House of Representatives and that it was likely to be criticised if father and son were both running for office.[4]

In November 2024, Eto was appointed head of the LDP taskforce for the abduction issue.[5]

Eto is affiliated to the right-wing organisation Nippon Kaigi and served as secretary general of the Nippon Kaigi Diet Members' Roundtable (日本会議国会議員懇談会).[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d 鹿吉 大基 (29 November 2019). "右派集団と関係深い衛藤晟一特命相とは何者か". President. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
  2. ^ Sakata, Makoto (4 August 2014). "自民党の曲者さえ惚れさせた村山富市". Diamond Online. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
  3. ^ Reed, Steven R.; Shimizu, Kay (2018). "Avoiding a Two-Party System: The Liberal Democratic Party versus Duverger's Law". Critical Readings on the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan: Vol 4. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. p. 1332.
  4. ^ Tokuyama, Toru (5 July 2024). "「心残りはあるが…」　自民・衛藤晟一氏、来夏の参院不意出馬で会見". Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). Tokyo. Retrieved 15 June 2025.
  5. ^ "自民党・拉致問題対策本部長に衛藤晟一氏". Nikkei. Tokyo. 22 November 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2025.
  6. ^ "Nationalist ‘Japan Conference’ building its clout" - Korea JoongAng Daily - May 3, 2013
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