Goshi Hosono

Born on August 21, 1971, in Omihachiman, Shiga Prefecture, he graduated from Kyoto University’s Faculty of Law in 1995 and joined Sanwa Research Institute that year.⁠[1]

First elected to the House of Representatives in 2000 and re-elected from Shizuoka’s 5th district since 2003, he was the DPJ’s acting secretary general and in 2012 became its policy chief and then secretary general.⁠[2]

In 2011 he served as a special adviser to the prime minister, from April in charge of the overall response to and public relations for the nuclear power plant accident.⁠[1]

From June 27, 2011, he served in Naoto Kan’s cabinet as a minister of state responsible for bringing the nuclear accident under control and preventing a recurrence, adding the Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation from August 10.⁠[3]

When Yoshihiko Noda formed his cabinet that September, Hosono became Minister of the Environment and minister for the nuclear accident response, keeping the posts through the cabinet’s first and second reshuffles.⁠[4]

Re-elected as an independent in 2021, he joined the Liberal Democratic Party that November.⁠[2]

When the second reshuffled Takaichi cabinet took office on September 17, 2026, he became Minister for Reconstruction and Minister of State for Disaster Management, also responsible for preparing the Disaster Management Agency, national resilience and international disaster risk reduction cooperation.⁠[5]

At his first press conference the next day he said he aimed to resolve remaining reconstruction issues within the third reconstruction period and to speed preparations for the Disaster Management Agency, expected in November, noting that he had led LDP work on large-scale disasters such as a Nankai Trough earthquake.⁠[6]

On October 11 he visited Chiba Prefecture to inspect damage from Typhoon No. 25 of 2026 and other disasters and met the governor.⁠[7]

On October 20 he said he would issue emergency requests to the public, local governments and ministries when the agency launched on November 2, urging people to prepare food, toilets and other supplies; he said municipalities should lead preparation in normal times, with the national government stepping forward in a major disaster.⁠[8]

On October 23 he announced a disaster-food event to be co-hosted with the Children and Families Agency and said he would make his first visit as reconstruction minister to the interim storage facility in Okuma and Futaba, which he said he had asked the two towns to host.⁠[9]

On October 27 he said the Cabinet Office had signed a stockpiling agreement with Toyama Prefecture, bringing dispersed stockpile bases to 11 sites in 10 regions, and that the next budget request would seek more bases and heating and cooling equipment.⁠[10]