Hiroshi Moriyama
森山 𥙿
Hiroshi Moriyama in December 2014
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
In office
7 October 2015 – 3 August 2016
Prime MinisterShinzō Abe
Preceded byYoshimasa Hayashi
Succeeded byYūji Yamamoto
Member of the House of Representatives
Assumed office
25 April 2004
Preceded bySadanori Yamanaka
ConstituencyKagoshima 5th
(2004-2017)
Kagoshima 4th
(2017-present)
Member of the House of Councillors
In office
26 July 1998 – 13 April 2004
Preceded byKazuto Kamiyama
Succeeded byTetsuro Nomura
ConstituencyKagoshima at-large
Member of the Kagoshima City Council
In office
28 April 1975 – 25 April 1998
Personal details
Born (1945-04-08) 8 April 1945
Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
Political partyLiberal Democratic Party

Hiroshi Moriyama (森山 裕, Moriyama Hiroshi, born 8 April 1945) is a Japanese politician who serves as Chairman of the General Council of the Liberal Democratic Party since 2023. He previously served as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries from 2015 to 2016. He was a member of the House of Councillors from 1998 to 2004 and is a member of the House of Representatives since 2004.

A native of Kagoshima Prefecture, Moriyama served for many years on the Kagoshima City Council before entering national politics.

Early life

Hiroshi Moriyama was born on April 8, 1945, in an air raid shelter in Kanoya, in Kagoshima Prefecture, due to allied air raids. His family ran a farm and a newsstand. As a boy, Moriyama worked as a paper boy for his family's newsstand, delivering newspapers on his bicycle everyday before school.[1][2]

After graduating from junior high school he began to work in the automotive industry while attending high school part-time. He graduated in 1965. In 1969, Moriyama started a used car dealership.[3]

Political career

He entered politics in April 1975, when he was first elected to the Kagoshima City Council. He would be on the council for 23 years and served three times as chairman.[3]

In July 1998, Moriyama was elected as a candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party for the Kagoshima at-large district in the House of Councillors election. He would serve as parliamentary secretary for the Ministry of Finance from October 2002 to September 2003.[3]

Shortly before the end of his term in April 2004, Moriyama resigned from the House of Councillors to run in a by-election in Kagoshima 4th district of the House of Representatives, caused by the death of Sadanori Yamanaka. Moriyama was elected with more than four-fifths of the votes. Moriyama opposed the privatization of the postal service pushed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Due to this, he became one of the 33 so-called "postal rebels" who were denied LDP endorsement in the 2005 election, but easily defended his seat as an independent against an LDP "assassin" candidate.[3][4]

Like many other postal rebels, Moriyama returned the LDP under Koizumi's successor Shinzo Abe in December 2006. In July 2007 he joined the Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyūkai faction led by Taku Yamasaki. In August of the same year he was appointed Senior Vice Minister of Finance and served as such until August 2008. Moriyama served as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the cabinet of Shinzo Abe from October 2015 to August 2016.[3]

In August 2017 Moriyama was appointed chairman of the Diet Affairs Committee in the LDP. He would serve in this post for more then four years, the longest ever tenure. Moriyama remained when Yoshihide Suga succeeded Abe. He was noted as a close ally of Suga and Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai. Moriyama left his position when Fumio Kishida succeeded Suga in October 2021.[5]

In December of the same year Moriyama became head of the Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyūkai due to the defeat of the previous head Nobuteru Ishihara in the 2021 House of Representatives election. In August 2022 he was appointed chairman of the Election Strategy Committee in the LDP, putting him in charge of the difficult task of coordinating candidates after a recent redistricting. He served in this position until September 2023, when he was appointed chairman of the General Council.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "（閣僚の横顔）農林水産　森山裕氏". Nikkei (in Japanese). 8 October 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  2. ↑ "【私と新聞】　自民党・森山裕国会対策委員長　国民の思い把握に欠かせない". The Sankei News (in Japanese). 19 April 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "国会議員情報：森山 裕". Jiji.com (in Japanese). Jiji Press Ltd. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  4. ↑ "自民・森山氏が初当選　衆院鹿児島５区補選". Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). 25 April 2004. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  5. 1 2 "自民党役員人事 総務会長に森山裕氏起用へ". NHK (in Japanese). 12 September 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
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