Tsuruyo Kondo Explained

Tsuruyo Kondo
Native Name:近藤鶴代
Native Name Lang:ja
Office:Science and Technology Agency
Term Start:1962
Term End:1963
Primeminister:Hayato Ikeda
Constituency:Okayama Prefecture
Birth Date:November 16, 1901
Birth Place:Niimi, Okayama Prefecture, Japan
Death Date:August 9, 1970
Nationality:Japanese
Party:Liberal Democratic Party
Alma Mater:Japan Women's University

Tsuruyo Kondo (November 16, 1901 – August 9, 1970) was a Japanese politician.

Biography

Kondo was born in Niimi, Okayama prefecture on November 16, 1901.[1] In 1924 she graduated from the Japan Women's University and began working at two schools in Okayama, the Sanyo Koto Jogakko and the Okayama-ken Daiichi Okayama Koto Jogakko.[2] She taught manners and home economics.

After World War II, Kondo's brother, a politician affiliated with the Japan Progressive Party named Kotani Setsuo, was purged in 1946. This purge prevented him from running for office. Kondo ran in his stead without a party to represent Okayama prefecture in the House of Representatives. She was one of the first female politicians in post-war Japan.[3] After she was elected, she became a member of the Liberal Party, then the Democratic Liberal Party, and then the Freedom Party. In 1948, she was selected to become the Parliamentary Vice-Minister in Shigeru Yoshida's cabinet.

Kondo was elected four times, until she lost the 1953 and 1955 elections. She returned to politics when she was elected to the House of Councillors in 1956, representing Okayama prefecture.[4] Kondo aligned herself with Banboku Ōno's faction within the Liberal Democratic Party. After she was re-elected in 1962, Kondo was offered a position in Hayato Ikeda's cabinet as the chairwoman of the Japanese Atomic Energy Commission and the director of the .[5] After Masa Nakayama, Kondo was the second woman ever appointed to the Japanese cabinet.

Kondo retired from politics in 1968. She died in 1970 at the age of 68.

Further reading

References

Predecessor:
Minister of Foreign Affairs, House of Councillors
1961-1962
Successor:
Seiichi Inoue
Political offices
Predecessor:
Takeo Miki
Minister of State, Head of Science and Technology Agency
1962-1963
Successor:
Eisaku Sato
Predecessor:
Takeo Miki
Minister of State, Head of the Japanese Atomic Energy Commission
1962-1963
Successor:
Eisaku Sato

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 近藤鶴代(こんどう つるよ)とは. 日本人名大辞典+Plus. デジタル版. コトバンク. ja. 2019-01-22.
  2. Web site: 昭和37年 原子力委員会月報7(8)原子力委員会委員長に近藤鶴代氏就任. www.aec.go.jp. 2019-01-22.
  3. Book: C., Mackie, Vera. Feminism in modern Japan : citizenship, embodiment, and sexuality. 2003. Cambridge University Press. 9780511675072. Cambridge. 240. 667084879.
  4. Web site: 女性大臣の系譜 写真特集:時事ドットコム. 時事ドットコム. ja. 2019-01-22.
  5. Book: Political Handbook of the World. 1963. Center for Comparative Political Research of the State University of New York at Binghamton and for the Council on Foreign Relations. en.