Hiroyuki Hosoda, Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dies at 79 (Update 1)

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:19 JST, November 10, 2023 (updated at 16:51 JST)

Hiroyuki Hosoda, former speaker of the House of Representatives, died on Friday morning. He was 79.

The Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker resigned as lower house speaker due to his poor health in October and has since been hospitalized.

In September, he only attended the first day of the Group of Seven Speakers’ Meeting, which was held in Japan for the first time since 2016.

Hosoda graduated from the University of Tokyo and started working for the then International Trade and Industry Ministry, now the Economy, Trade, and Industry Ministry.

After working as a secretary to his father, former Transport Minister Kichizo Hosoda, he was elected to the lower house for the first time in 1990 from the then Shimane Prefecture constituency. Elected 11 times, Hosoda represented Shimane Constituency No. 1.

Hosoda became a Cabinet member for the first time in September 2002 under then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He served as state minister for Okinawa and northern territories affairs, and science and technology policy. In May 2004, he assumed the post of chief cabinet secretary.

In the LDP, he was the secretary general while Taro Aso served as prime minister. He led the Hosoda faction from December 2014 to November 2021.

He became the lower house speaker in November 2021. He was engaged in parliamentary diplomacy and held a meeting with then U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who visited Japan in August 2022.