16 Facts About Yoshimi Watanabe

Yoshimi Watanabe is a former Japanese politician.

Yoshimi Watanabe was formerly a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and later the founder of Your Party, after which he became a member of Nippon Ishin no Kai until 2019 when he then became an independent politician.

Yoshimi Watanabe was a member of the House of Representatives from 1996 to 2014, and returned to the Diet in 2016 as a member of the House of Councillors.

Yoshimi Watanabe's father is Michio Watanabe, a major political figure first elected to the Diet while Watanabe was in junior high school.

Yoshimi Watanabe developed an interest in politics soon after his father was elected to office, and served as his father's secretary during the elder Yoshimi Watanabe's appointments as Minister of International Trade and Industry and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Yoshimi Watanabe's nephew Michitaro Watanabe is a politician.

Yoshimi Watanabe continued to represent the district, having successfully defended it in five subsequent general elections before being defeated in 2014.

Yoshimi Watanabe was tapped by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to lead an administrative reform commission studying the potential for implementing the doshusei federal government system in Japan, and served in this capacity from 2006 to 2007.

Yoshimi Watanabe supported Yuriko Koike in the 2008 LDP leadership election, which was ultimately won by Taro Aso.

Yoshimi Watanabe formed Your Party as a splinter from the Liberal Democratic Party prior to the 2009 general election.

Yoshimi Watanabe's party ran on a platform of downsizing Japan's vast bureaucracy, but managed to win only five seats in the election, which was a resounding victory for the opposition Democratic Party of Japan.

In January 2012, Yoshimi Watanabe announced that Your Party would join forces with Osaka governor Toru Hashimoto's political group Osaka Ishin-no-kai, and praised Hashimoto's economic reform efforts in Osaka.

Yoshimi Watanabe opposed the appointment of Haruhiko Kuroda as president of the Bank of Japan, saying that he would prefer to see a president come from a background other than the Ministry of Finance; he instead supported Heizo Takenaka for the position.

The party commissioned an investigation by an outside attorney and CPA, who found that Yoshimi Watanabe had paid interest on the loan and had mainly used the funds for paying credit card bills for himself and his wife.

Yoshimi Watanabe gave the following answers to the questionnaire submitted by Mainichi to parliamentarians in 2014:.

Yoshimi Watanabe appears in "Takeshi-no-TV-tackle", a humorous political discussion show hosted by comedian Takeshi Kitano.