Tamisuke Watanuki

Japanese politician

綿貫民輔

Watanuki in 2009

Speaker of the House of RepresentativesIn office
4 July 2000 – 10 October 2003Preceded bySōichirō ItōSucceeded byYōhei KōnoMinister of ConstructionIn office
28 February 1990 – 29 December 1990Prime MinisterToshiki KaifuPreceded byShōzō HaradaSucceeded byYūji ŌtsukaDirector-General of the National Land AgencyIn office
22 July 1986 – 6 November 1987Prime MinisterYasuhiro NakasonePreceded byHeihachirō YamazakiSucceeded bySeisuke OkunoDirector-General of the Hokkaido Development Agency and the Okinawa Development AgencyIn office
22 July 1986 – 6 November 1987Prime MinisterYasuhiro NakasonePreceded byRaishirō KogaSucceeded byShigeru Kasuya Personal detailsBorn (1927-04-30) April 30, 1927 (age 96)
Nanto, Toyama, JapanPolitical partyLiberal Democratic Party (1969-2005)
People's New Party (2005–2013)Alma materKeio University

Tamisuke Watanuki (綿貫民輔, Watanuki Tamisuke, born 30 April 1927) is a Japanese politician from the Toyama Prefecture. He started his own export-import company at age 28.

He graduated from the Department of Economics at Keio University and ran for the Prefectural Assembly in 1959. He was elected to the Diet in 1969 as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.^[1]

He served as Vice Minister of International Trade and Industry in 1975 in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Miki, and as Vice Minister of the Post Office under Prime Minister Fukuda, as well as some other cabinet positions through the 1980s. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives from July 2000 to November 2003.^[2]

He vigorously opposed Prime Minister Koizumi's plan to privatize the national post office and formed the People's New Party in 2005 to oppose the plan.^[3] Although Koizumi's party handily won a strong majority in the elections on 11 September 2005, Watanuki crushed the challenger in his district.^[4]

References

^ Watanuki's official website ^{[dead link]} Archived 2010-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
^ An article in the Japan Times.
^ A report on the postal reform.
^ A report on the 2005 Upper House Elections. (Note: This report is entitled as UPPER House Election, which is wrong. This is a LOWER House Election.)

House of Representatives of Japan
Preceded by Hiroyuki Masuoka	Chair, Committee on Financial Affairs of the House of Representatives 1980–1981	Succeeded by Yoshirō Mori
Preceded by Chūbun Hatano	Chair, Committee on Judicial Affairs of the House of Representatives 1982–1983	Succeeded by Moichi Miyazaki
Preceded by Ichirō Ozawa	Chair, Committee on Rules and Administration of the House of Representatives 1986	Succeeded by Ihei Ochi
Preceded by Sōichirō Itō	Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan 2000–2003	Succeeded by Yōhei Kōno
Political offices
Preceded by Raishirō Koga	Head of the Hokkaido Development Agency 1986–1987	Succeeded by Shigeru Kasuya
Preceded by Heihachirō Yamazaki	Head of the National Land Agency 1986–1987	Succeeded by Seisuke Okuno
Preceded by Raishirō Koga	Head of the Okinawa Development Agency 1986–1987	Succeeded by Shigeru Kasuya
Preceded by Shōzō Harada	Minister of Construction 1990	Succeeded by Yūji Ōtsuka
Party political offices
Preceded by Keizō Obuchi	Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party 1991–1992	Succeeded by Seiroku Kajiyama
Preceded by Keizō Obuchi	Head of Heisei Kenkyūkai 1998–2000	Succeeded by Ryūtarō Hashimoto
Preceded by Party established	President of the People's New Party (Kokuminshintō) 2005–2009	Succeeded by Shizuka Kamei