Masatoshi Wakabayashi
{{Short description|Japanese politician (1934–2023)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Masatoshi Wakabayashi
| native_name = {{nobold|若林 正俊}}
| image = Masatoshi_Wakabayashi_200708.jpg
| image_size = 220px
| caption = Wakabayashi in 2007
| office = Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
| primeminister = Shinzo Abe
Yasuo Fukuda
| term_start = 4 September 2007
| term_end = 2 August 2008
| predecessor = Akira Amari (acting)
Takehiko Endo
| successor = Seiichi Ota
| primeminister1= Shinzo Abe
| term_start1 = 1 August 2007
| term_end1 = 27 August 2007
| predecessor1 = Norihiko Akagi
| successor1 = Takehiko Endo
| primeminister2= Shinzo Abe
| term_label2 = Acting
| term_start2 = 28 May 2007
| term_end2 = 1 June 2007
| predecessor2 = Toshikatsu Matsuoka
| successor2 = Norihiko Akagi
| office3 = Minister of the Environment
| primeminister3= Shinzo Abe
| term_start3 = 26 September 2006
| term_end3 = 27 August 2007
| predecessor3 = Yuriko Koike
| successor3 = Ichirō Kamoshita
| office4 = Member of the House of Councillors
| constituency4 = Nagano at-large
| term_start4 = 26 July 1998
| term_end4 = 2 April 2010
| predecessor4 = Kiyoshi Imai
| successor4 = Kenta Wakabayashi
| office5 = Member of the House of Representatives
| constituency5 = Nagano 1st
| term_start5 = 19 July 1993
| term_end5 = 27 September 1996
| predecessor5 =
| successor5 =
| constituency6 = Nagano 1st
| term_start6 = 19 December 1983
| term_end6 = 24 January 1990
| predecessor6 =
| successor6 =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1934|07|04|df=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|11|11|1934|07|04|df=y}}
| death_place = Tokyo, Japan
| party = Liberal Democratic
| alma_mater = University of Tokyo
}}
{{nihongo|Masatoshi Wakabayashi|若林 正俊|Wakabayashi Masatoshi|4 July 1934 – 11 November 2023}} was a Japanese politician who was a member of Liberal Democratic Party.
Political career
File:Yasuo Fukuda Cabinet 20070926.jpg
Wakabayashi became the third Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries appointed in Shinzō Abe's first cabinet after Toshikatsu Matsuoka killed himself as a result of financial scandal and Matsuoka's successor Norihiko Akagi resigned due to other financial scandals. He was appointed to the same position again in Abe's first reshuffled cabinet after Takehiko Endo's resignation.
After Abe's resignation, he worked under Yasuo Fukuda, who appointed Seiichi Ota his successor.
After the LDP were defeated in the 2009 election, it was unclear who would be their candidate in the diet nomination for prime minister, since Taro Aso had already announced his resignation as party president and no successor had been chosen. The party ultimately decided to nominate Wakabayashi, who was then chairman of the general assembly of LDP diet members, for Prime Minister, though he had no hope of being elected.{{cite news |date=8 September 2009 |title=自民、首相指名は若林両院議員総会長に 16日投票 |url=https://www.asahi.com/seikenkotai2009/TKY200909080237.html |work=The Asahi Shimbun |location=Tokyo |language=ja |access-date=30 October 2024}}
Resignation and death
In March 2010 he resigned from the Diet after being accused of pressing the voting button for fellow lawmaker Mikio Aoki, whose Diet seat was next to him, while Aoki was absent from a house plenary vote.{{Cite web|date=|title=LDP legislator resigns over pressing voting button for absent lawmaker ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion|url=http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/ldp-legislator-pressed-diet-voting-button-for-absent-lawmaker|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605044334/http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/ldp-legislator-pressed-diet-voting-button-for-absent-lawmaker|archive-date=5 June 2011|access-date=21 October 2021|website=japantoday.com}}{{Cite news|date=2 April 2010|title=Japan MP quits over double voting|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8600404.stm|access-date=21 October 2021}}
Wakabayashi died in Tokyo on 11 November 2023, at the age of 89.[https://www.shinmai.co.jp/news/article/CNTS2023111100437 若林正俊氏が死去 元農相 89歳] {{in lang|ja}}
Honours
- {{flag|Japan}}:
- 70px Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (July 2011)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.wakabayasi.gr.jp/index.html}} {{in lang|ja}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=Takehiko Endo}}
{{s-ttl|title=Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan | years=2007–2008}}
{{s-aft|after=Seiichi Ota}}
{{s-bef|before=Norihiko Akagi}}
{{s-ttl|title=Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan | years=2007}}
{{s-aft|after=Takehiko Endo}}
{{s-bef|before=Yuriko Koike}}
{{s-ttl|title=Minister of the Environment of Japan | years=2006–2007}}
{{s-aft|after=Ichirō Kamoshita}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakabayashi, Masatoshi}}
Category:Politicians from Nagano Prefecture
Category:Members of the House of Councillors (Japan)
Category:Ministers of the environment of Japan
Category:Government ministers of Japan
Category:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians
Category:University of Tokyo alumni
Category:Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1986–1990
Category:Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1993–1996
{{Japan-politician-1930s-stub}}