| Chikara Sakaguchi | |
| Native Name Lang: | ja |
| Office: | Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare |
| Primeminister: | Yoshirō Mori Junichiro Koizumi |
| Term Start: | 6 January 2001 |
| Term End: | 27 September 2004 |
| Predecessor: | Office established |
| Successor: | Hidehisa Otsuji |
| Office1: | Minister of Health and Welfare |
| Primeminister1: | Yoshirō Mori |
| Term Start1: | 5 December 2000 |
| Term End1: | 6 January 2001 |
| Predecessor1: | Yūji Tsushima |
| Successor1: | Office abolished |
| Office2: | Minister of Labour |
| Primeminister2: | Yoshirō Mori |
| Term Start2: | 5 December 2000 |
| Term End2: | 6 January 2001 |
| Predecessor2: | Yoshio Yoshikawa |
| Successor2: | Office abolished |
| Primeminister3: | Morihiro Hosokawa |
| Term Start3: | 9 August 1993 |
| Term End3: | 28 April 1994 |
| Predecessor3: | Masakuni Murakami |
| Successor3: | Kunio Hatoyama |
| Office4: | Member of the House of Representatives |
| Constituency4: | Tōkai PR |
| Term Start4: | 19 July 1993 |
| Term End4: | 16 November 2012 |
| Constituency5: | Mie 1st |
| Term Start5: | 19 December 1983 |
| Term End5: | 24 January 1990 |
| Constituency6: | Mie 1st |
| Term Start6: | 11 December 1972 |
| Term End6: | 19 May 1980 |
| Birth Date: | 1 April 1934 |
| Birth Place: | Hakusan, Mie, Japan |
| Alma Mater: | Mie University |
| Party: | Komeito |
| Otherparty: | New Frontier |
is a Japanese politician who served in the House of Representatives between 1972 and 2012, and as Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare from 2001 to 2004.[1]
He was born in Mie Prefecture and obtained an MD from Mie University. After qualifying as a physician, he worked at the Mie Red Cross Blood Center.[2]
He first ran for the House of Representatives as a member of Komeitō in the 1972 general election, and won a seat representing Mie Prefecture.
Sakaguchi was Minister of Labor in the 1993-94 coalition cabinet led by Morihiro Hosokawa. After the coalition government collapsed, he was the second-ranking officer of three other political parties, New Frontier Party (1994), Shintō Heiwa (1997), and New Komeito Party (1999).
In December 2000, he was appointed Minister of Health and Welfare and Minister of Labor in the LDP-Liberal-Komeito coalition cabinet of Yoshirō Mori. The ministries merged in 2001, making Sakaguchi the first individual to hold the combined position of Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. He retained this position under Junichiro Koizumi until September 2004.
As Health and Welfare Minister, Sakaguchi delivered an apology to Hansen's disease patients who were subjected to forced sterilization under the former Japanese eugenics protection law. He later advocated in the Diet for compensating the victims of these practices, and described them as "an egregious violation of human rights."[3]
Following Japan's first BSE outbreak in 2001, Sakaguchi introduced testing of all slaughtered cattle in Japan, which continued through the last year of his tenure.[4] He also dealt with record unemployment rates, and oversaw the implementation of reforms to the employment insurance and pension system. He was described by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training as "one of the busiest of all the ministers" during this time.[5]
Sakaguchi retired from the House of Representatives prior to the 2012 general election due to a party rule that forbade support for candidates over the age of 66. He thereafter became a special advisor to the New Komeito Party.