Yoshihide Suga

He attended night school to earn a Bachelor of Laws from Hosei University in 1973.

Suga chose Hosei "because it was the cheapest option available" and he "worked in a cardboard factory in Tokyo to pay his tuition".

After graduating from university, Suga worked on a House of Councillors (upper house) election campaign, and thereafter worked as secretary to LDP Diet Member Hikosaburo Okonogi, father of LDP politician Hachiro Okonogi, for eleven years.

Shortly after graduating with a Bachelor of Laws, Suga became an aide to Representative Hikosaburo Okonogi in 1975, before entering politics himself when he was elected to the Yokohama Municipal Assembly in 1987.

Suga resigned from this position in October 1986 to pursue his own career in politics.

He was elected to the Yokohama City Council in April 1987, campaigning door-to-door on foot, visiting as many as 30,000 houses and wearing through six pairs of shoes.

He pioneered the practice of giving campaign speeches in front of busy train stations, which is now common among Japanese political candidates.

Despite being a young councilor, Suga presided over the highest levels of government, which earned him the nickname "the shadow mayor".

In the 1996 election, Suga was elected to the House of Representatives, representing Kanagawa's 2nd district as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

During his time in the Diet, Suga became a close ally of Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe.

Suga was elected to the Diet of Japan in the 1996 general election, representing the Kanagawa 2nd district.

In his third year in the Diet, he shifted his support from Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi to former LDP Secretary-General Seiroku Kajiyama, an unusual move for a junior legislator.

He was re-elected in the 2000 general election, 2003 general election, and 2005 general election.

Suga remained close to Shinzo Abe during the late 2000s and early 2010s, and urged Abe to run for the LDP presidency in 2012.

He was appointed Senior Vice Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications in November 2005 under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

During Abe's first administration, Suga served as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications from 2006 to 2007.

Born to a family of strawberry farmers in rural Akita Prefecture during the Allied occupation of Japan, Suga moved to Tokyo after graduating from high school, where he enrolled in Hosei University.

When Abe first became prime minister in 2006, he appointed Suga to the Cabinet as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications.

He was promoted to Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications and Minister for Privatization of the Postal Services in the first Shinzo Abe cabinet in September 2006, and added the portfolio of Minister of State for Decentralization Reform in December 2006.

He was instrumental in the development of Japan's "hometown donation" (ふるさと納税) system, which allowed taxpayers to obtain deductions by donating money to local governments.

He was replaced by Hiroya Masuda in a cabinet reshuffle in August 2007.

His "street-corner" campaigning style was credited with holding his seat in the 2009 general election, when many other LDP lawmakers lost their seats amid a surge in support for the Democratic Party of Japan.

In October 2011, he was appointed Chairman of the LDP Party of Organization and Campaign Headquarters.

He had served as Chief Cabinet Secretary during the second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2020.

Suga left the Cabinet a year later, but after the LDP won the 2012 election, Suga was appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary, a role he would hold throughout Abe's second term as prime minister.

This made him the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history.

In September 2012, he was appointed Executive for Acting Secretary-General of the LDP.

As a Diet member, Suga built a power base among legislators not affiliated with the party's factions, particularly a group of young first-generation lawmakers known as the "Ganesha group".

Yoshihide Suga (菅 義偉) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2020 to 2021.

In September 2020, after Abe announced that he would resign due to health concerns, Suga declared his candidacy in the subsequent LDP leadership election.

Widely considered the frontrunner, Suga comfortably won the election on 14 September with 70% of the vote.

Two days later, he was formally elected prime minister by the Diet and appointed by Emperor Naruhito, making him the first new Prime Minister of the Reiwa era.

After his election as LDP leader, Suga stated that his premiership would focus on continuing the economic policies and goals of the Abe administration, including adding a new clause to Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution legitimizing the existence of Japan Self-Defense Forces, and securing the release of Japanese abductees from North Korea.

Suga's premiership focused primarily on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, including overseeing the rollout of vaccines in the country.

Suga's time in office also saw the holding of the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo and the announcement of a plan for Japan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

While Suga began his time in office relatively popular, his approval ratings quickly fell due to public dissatisfaction with the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and management of the delayed Olympic Games.

By the end of Suga's premiership, he was recording some of the lowest approval ratings in Japanese history.

Facing hesitancy from his party amid preparation for the 2021 LDP leadership election and upcoming 2021 general election, Suga announced on 3 September 2021 that because of the dissatisfaction shown from members of the Liberal Democratic Party he would resign as President of his party which would become effective on 30 September 2021.

His tenure officially ended on 4 October 2021 after he was succeeded by Fumio Kishida.

Suga was born to a family of strawberry farmers in Ogachi (now Yuzawa), a rural area in Akita Prefecture, and moved to Tokyo after graduation from Yuzawa High School.