Satsuki Katayama

Satsuki Katayama
250px campaigning in Shibuya, Tokyo in 2006
Native name	片山 さつき
Born	(1959-05-09) May 9, 1959 Urawa, Saitama Prefecture, (now Urawa-ku, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan)
Alma mater	University of Tokyo
Occupation	Politician and bureaucrat
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Yōichi Masuzoe (1986-1989)

Satsuki Katayama (片山 さつき, Katayama Satsuki, born May 9, 1959) is a Japanese politician and bureaucrat. She was a member of Japan's House of Representatives for about four years, representing the Shizuoka No. 7 district. She is also a former officer of the Ministry of the Treasury (now Ministry of Finance). She is a member of Japan's House of Councillors of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Overview

File:Katayama Suga Yamamoto etc in Shibuya DSCN2571 20060919.JPG

with Ichita Yamamoto and Yoshihide Suga in Shibuya, Tokyo (September 19, 2006)

Katayama was born in Urawa, Saitama Prefecture (now Urawa-ku, Saitama City). After graduation with the B.L. degree from the University of Tokyo, where she was chosen Miss Tokyo University (ミス東大 misu-tōdai), Katayama found employment as a secretary for Finance Minister Michio Watanabe. She was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in the 2005 general election and served as Deputy Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. She was one of 83 so-called "Koizumi Children," new legislators elected amid the widespread popularity of reformist prime minister Junichiro Koizumi; Koizumi touted Katayama as a "madonna of reform."

Katayama and 72 other "Koizumi Children" were defeated in the 2009 general election, in which the Democratic Party of Japan (Minshutō, now Minshintō) routed the LDP. Following the 2009 election, Katayama commented that "the past four years have been a fight against the symbols of Koizumi's reforms, and we have proved they were wrong." She later characterized herself as a "war-displaced orphan" in 2011.

She married political science professor Yōichi Masuzoe (present day the Governor of Tokyo) in 1986 while working at the Ministry of Finance. They separated after several months, divorced in 1989 and are both remarried. Masuzoe later became a prominent media personality and member of the House of Councillors, and both Masuzoe and Katayama were considered by the LDP as candidates for the 2014 gubernatorial election in Tokyo. Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe, who led the LDP to endorse Masuzoe, said that he wanted Katayama more than anyone else to stand in support of Masuzoe, but Katayama responded that it was difficult for her to do so given Masuzoe's publicized dispute over support payments to one of his extramarital children, who is disabled.

External links

• Official website (Japanese)