Kōichi Hagiuda

Kōichi Hagiuda
Kōichi Hagiuda
萩生田光一
	Official portrait, 2021
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry
	In office; 4 October 2021 – 10 August 2022
Prime Minister	Fumio Kishida
Preceded by	Hiroshi Kajiyama
Succeeded by	Yasutoshi Nishimura
Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
	In office; 11 September 2019 – 4 October 2021
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe; Yoshihide Suga
Preceded by	Masahiko Shibayama
Succeeded by	Shinsuke Suematsu
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary; (Political affairs, House of Representatives)
	In office; 7 October 2015 – 3 August 2017
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe
Preceded by	Katsunobu Katō
Succeeded by	Yasutoshi Nishimura
Member of the House of Representatives
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 18 December 2012
Preceded by	Yukihiko Akutsu
Constituency	Tokyo 24th
	In office; 10 November 2003 – 21 July 2009
Preceded by	Yukihiko Akutsu
Succeeded by	Yukihiko Akutsu
Constituency	Tokyo 24th
Member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly
	In office; 23 July 2001 – 2003
Constituency	Hachiōji City
Member of the Hachioji City Assembly
	In office; 1 May 1991 – 5 June 2001
Personal details
Born	31 August 1963 (age 62); Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan
Party	Liberal Democratic
Alma mater	Meiji University

Kōichi Hagiuda (萩生田光一, Hagiuda Kōichi; born 31 August 1963) is a Japanese politician of Liberal Democratic Party who currently serves as executive acting secretary-general of the LDP, He previously served as Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, and was Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary from 2015 to 2016 and Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology from 2019 to 2021.

Background and education

Born and raised in Hachiōji, Hagiuda graduated from Waseda Jitsugyo High School, and Meiji University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1987.

While still a university student, Hagiuda had become an aide to the Hachiōji city councilman Ryuichi Kurosu. In 1991, at the age of 27, Hagiuda himself was elected the Hachiōji City Council, becoming the youngest candidate ever elected to the council. Kurosu was elected to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly in 1993, but resigned in 2000 to run for Mayor of Hachiōji. Hagiuda was elected to his vacated seat in the Metropolitan Assembly. He then ran in the 2005 general election for the Liberal Democratic Party and was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time.

Diet member

Hagiuda joined the Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyukai within the LDP. A conservative, he became known as one of Shinzō Abe's closest aides and personal friends. He also became close to former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. He lost his seat in the 2009 general election, but returned in the 2012 general election.^[1]

Hagiuda was appointed Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary in 2015. In 2017 he was made Executive Acting Secretary General of the LDP, an exceptional appointment since it was usually only been given to former cabinet ministers. In 2019 he joined the cabinet for the first time as Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. He remained in this post under Yoshihide Suga. When Fumio Kishida became prime minister in 2021 he became Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry.^[2]^[3]

As a protégé of Shinzo Abe and a long-standing member of the ultranationalist lobby group Nippon Kaigi^[4]^[5], Hagiuda has consistently advocated for policies aimed at strengthening Japan's military capabilities and revising Article 9 of the constitution.^[6]

Following the assassination of Shinzo Abe, ties between Diet members and Unification Church came under scrutiny. Hagiuda was one of those alleged to have close ties to the group. An anonymous source claimed in a tabloid that Hagiuda had made regular visits to the Church in Hachioji during his time out of office from 2009 to 2012 and was "like one of the family." Hagiuda disputed these statements but admitted he had made speeches at affiliated organisations.^[7]

When Kishida reshuffled the cabinet and party leadership in August 2022, Hagiuda was appointed Chairman of the Policy Research Council for the LDP.^[8]

In December 2023, he resigned as Chairman of the Policy Research Council amid a financial scandal involving the Liberal Democratic Party.

As secretary-general of the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council, a cross-party group promoting relations between Japan and Taiwan, Hagiuda led a LDP delegation to Taipei in December 2025, during the 2025 China–Japan diplomatic crisis. Hagiuda met with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, declaring that Japan-Taiwan relations were "the best in history." He pledged to deepen collaboration on national security and critical technologies like semiconductors.^[9] The visit was firmly opposed by China.^[10]

Personal life

Hagiuda is married, and has one daughter and one son. His hobbies include sports such as baseball, rugby, and golf. He also enjoys watching movies, holding movie-viewing events annually in conjunction with his personal support group, or koenkai. His personal website also lists "trying new restaurants" as a hobby, calling him a "self-proclaimed gourmet", and also mentions his frequent enjoyment of after-meal ramen.