Katsunobu Katō

Katsunobu Katō
Katsunobu Katō
加藤勝信
	Official portrait, 2020
Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare
	In office; 10 August 2022 – 13 September 2023
Prime Minister	Fumio Kishida
Preceded by	Shigeyuki Goto
Succeeded by	Keizō Takemi
	In office; 11 September 2019 – 16 September 2020
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Takumi Nemoto
Succeeded by	Norihisa Tamura
	In office; 3 August 2017 – 2 October 2018
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Yasuhisa Shiozaki
Succeeded by	Takumi Nemoto
Chief Cabinet Secretary
	In office; 16 September 2020 – 4 October 2021
Prime Minister	Yoshihide Suga
Preceded by	Yoshihide Suga
Succeeded by	Hirokazu Matsuno
Minister of State for Measures for Declining Birthrate
	In office; 7 October 2015 – 3 August 2017
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Haruko Arimura
Succeeded by	Masaji Matsuyama
Member of the House of Representatives
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 10 November 2003
Constituency	Chūgoku block (2003–2009); Okayama's 5th district (2009–present)
Personal details
Born	Katsunobu Murosaki; 22 November 1955 (age 68); Tokyo, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Spouse	Shuko Kato
Children	4
Relatives	Mutsuki Kato (father-in-law); Takenori Kato (uncle-in-law); Koko Kato (sister-in-law)
Alma mater	University of Tokyo (BEc)
Occupation	Economist • Politician

Katsunobu Katō (加藤勝信, Katō Katsunobu; born 22 November 1955) is a Japanese politician, who previously served as the Minister of Health, Labour, and Welfare at three times from 2017 to 2018 and from 2019 to 2020 and again from 2022 to 2023. He also served as the Chief Cabinet Secretary from 2020 to 2021. Belonging to the Liberal Democratic Party, he has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2003.

Born and raised in Tokyo and a graduate of the University of Tokyo, Kato had a bureaucratic career in the Ministry of Finance before going into politics.

Early life, family, and career

Kato was born as Katsunobu Murosaki (室崎勝信) on 22 November 1955 in Tokyo, Japan. His father, Katsutoshi Murosaki, was an executive at Hino Motors. The family came from Shimane Prefecture, where his grandfather, Katsuzo Murosaki was a businessman and prefectural assemblyman. Kato studied economics at the University of Tokyo and joined the Ministry of Finance upon graduating in 1979. He held several positions, such as chief of the Kurayoshi Tax Office, secretary to Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hideo Watanabe and chief inspector for the labour and defense budgets.^[1]^[2]

In April 1994, Kato was assigned as secretary to the Minister of Agriculture Mutsuki Kato. Kato married Shuko Kato, the daughter of Mutsuki Kato. As his family had only daughters, Kato was adopted by his father-in-law to carry on his family name. He retired from the Ministry of Finance in 1995 and became his father-in-law's personal secretary.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Political career

Kato would pursue his political career in Okayama Prefecture, where his adoptive family was based. After unsuccessful runs in 1998 and 2000, Kato was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in the 2003 general election. He had initially run as an independent as his father-in-law had left the LDP, however fellow Okayama politician and former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto recruited him for the party and when elected, Kato joined the Heisei Kenkyukai led by Hashimoto. This was significant as Hashimoto and Mutsuki Kato had long been rivals in the political world of Okayama.^[5]

Kato became a confidant of Shinzo Abe. This was partially due to a family relationship, as Mutsuki Kato had been a close ally of Abe's father Shintaro Abe and his wife had remained a close friend of Abe's mother, Yoko.^[1]^[3]^[4] In August 2007, Kato became parliamentary vice minister to the Cabinet Office in the Abe Cabinet. He was retained until the end of the Yasuo Fukuda Cabinet.^[2]

When Abe was re-elected as president of the LDP in September 2012, he appointed Kato as his special assistant. In December of the same year, the LDP returned to government and Kato was appointed Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary. In October 2015, Kato joined the cabinet for the first time as minister of state with a portfolio including countermeasures against the declining birthrate and women's empowerment.^[6]^[7]

When Shinzo Abe reshuffled his cabinet in August 2017 , Kato became as the Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare, but he left cabinet in October 2018when he was appointed Chairman of the General Council, one of four key posts in the LDP. Kato was reappointed as Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare in September 2019.^[2]^[3] As such, Kato helped shape the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After Abe resigned as Prime Minister on 16 September 2020 due to health reasons, Kato was appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary under his successor Yoshihide Suga.^[8] After the end of the Suga Cabinet after one year, Kato became chairman of the Social Security Research Commission and subcommittee chairman of the Tax Research Commission within the LDP.^[9]

In August 2022 when Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled his cabinet following the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe one month previous, Kato was appointed Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare for the third time.^[2] In April 2023, Kato announced that the government would downgrade the classification of COVID-19 to be on par with "seasonal flu" by midnight 8 May after the three days delayed during the 8-day holiday period of Golden Week Festival^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]

Kato left cabinet due to the reshuffle in September 2023, after which he once again became chairman of the Social Security Research Commission, and as well as Secretary-General of the LDP Headquarters for Realizing Constitutional Revision.^[15]

Katō is affiliated with the conservative organization Nippon Kaigi.^[16]

Honours

Netherlands: Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau (29 October 2014)^[17]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Nakajima, Takeshi (3 February 2019). "中島岳志の「自民党を読む」（６）加藤勝信". Ronza. The Asahi Shimbun Company. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "加藤勝信". kantei.go.jp. Cabinet Public Affairs Office, Cabinet Secretariat. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Tanaka, Hiroyuki; Matsukura, Yusuke (October 6, 2018). "PM Abe picks close aides for senior LDP positions to increase his involvement". Mainichi Daily News. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
^ ^a ^b Tosaka, Hiroki (January 25, 2022). "永田町激震…！「影の女傑」加藤勝信前官房長官の義母が急逝していた". Gendai Media (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
^ "「六龍戦争」雪解け橋本氏、事務所を提供". Asahi News (in Japanese). July 9, 2004. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
^ "自民党、安倍執行部が発足　政調会長に甘利氏". The Nikkei (in Japanese). 2012-09-29. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
^ "官房副長官に加藤氏　参院から世耕氏を起用". The Nikkei (in Japanese). 2012-12-19. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
^ "Suga taps Kato as chief Cabinet Secretary, to retain key ministers". Kyodo News. September 15, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
^ "自民税調、小委員長に加藤勝信氏、会長は宮沢氏". The Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). 2021-11-16. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
^ "Japan to Lower COVID-19 Classification as Planned May 8". The Japan News. April 27, 2023. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
^ "It's official: COVID-19 will be downgraded in Japan by May 8 during the Golden Week Festival". Asahi Shimbun. April 27, 2023. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
^ "Japan to officially downgrade COVID-19 in May". NHK World News. April 27, 2023. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
^ "Japan formally decides to downgrade COVID-19 to flu level on May 8". Kyodo News. April 27, 2023. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
^ "Japan to downgrade COVID-19 to flu level on May 8". Nikkei Asia. Archived from the original on 6 May 2023. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
^ "＜独自＞自民憲法改正実現本部　事務総長に加藤勝信・前厚労相の起用検討". The Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). 2023-10-03. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
^ Nippon Kaigi website
^ Decoraties Staatsbezoeken Japan en Republiek Korea Archived 2014-11-04 at the Wayback Machine - website of the Dutch Royal House

政治家情報〜加藤勝信〜. JANJAN (in Japanese). Retrieved 2007-10-20.

External links

Official website (in Japanese)

Political offices
Preceded by Tsuyoshi Saitō	Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary (Political affairs, House of Representatives) 2012–2015	Succeeded by Kōichi Hagiuda
Preceded by Haruko Arimura	Minister of State for Measures for Declining Birthrate 2015–2017	Succeeded by Masaji Matsuyama
Preceded by Haruko Arimura	Minister of State for Gender Equality 2015–2017	Succeeded by Masaji Matsuyama
Preceded by Yasuhisa Shiozaki	Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare 2017–2018	Succeeded by Takumi Nemoto
Preceded by Takumi Nemoto	Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare 2019–2020	Succeeded by Norihisa Tamura
Preceded by Yoshihide Suga	Chief Cabinet Secretary 2020–2021	Succeeded by Hirokazu Matsuno
Preceded by Shigeyuki Goto	Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare 2022–2023	Succeeded by Keizō Takemi
Party political offices
Preceded by Wataru Takeshita	Chairman of the General Council, Liberal Democratic Party 2018–2019	Succeeded by Shun'ichi Suzuki
Preceded by Yoichi Miyazawa	Subcommittee Chairman of the Tax Research Commission, Liberal Democratic Party 2021–2022	Succeeded by Ryu Shionoya
Preceded by Ichirō Kamoshita	Chairman of the Social Security Research Commission, Liberal Democratic Party 2021–2022	Succeeded by Shigeyuki Goto
Preceded by Norihisa Tamura	Chairman of the Social Security Research Commission, Liberal Democratic Party 2023-present	Incumbent
Preceded by Yoshimasa Hayashi	Subcommittee Chairman of the Tax Research Commission, Liberal Democratic Party 2023–present	Incumbent