KONO Taro, 43, a fourth-term Member of the House of Representatives, is now the Assistant Chairman of the Policy Council Committee of the Liberal Democratic Party.

KONO Taro represents the 15th District of Kanagawa Prefecture, which has over 430,000 voters and consists of the cities of Chigasaki and Hiratsuka and the towns of Oiso and Ninomiya on the Sagami Bay.

In the 2005 General Election KONO received 186,770 votes, which is the second largest votes in Japan's electoral history; second only to the then Prime Minister Koizumi's in 2005.

KONO was first elected to the House of Representatives as a Liberal Democratic Member in October 1996, at age 33, and has been consecutively re-elected in June 2000, November 2003 and September 2005.  His winning majority increased from 13,297 in 1996 to 63,058 in 2000, 71,968 in 2003, and 103,280 in 2005.

KONO served in the Prime Minister Koizumi's last government as the Senior Vice Minister of Justice from November 2, 2005 to September 26, 2006, and previously served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Public Management, the position responsible for administrative reforms, local governments, and e-Government from January 2002 to October 2002.

In 2004 KONO, then 41, was appointed Assistant Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party, and was also elected Prefectural Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party in Kanagawa Prefecture.  He was the Youngest Prefectural Chairman in the LDP.  KONO led the Party in Kanagawa in the 2005 General Election and managed all 17 LDP candidates in Kanagawa Prefecture elected to the House.  The opposition parties lost all district seats in the Prefecture for the first time.

In 2004 KONO co-sponsored and passed the Economic Sanction Amendment to the Foreign Exchange Law, which gives the Japanese Government power to unilaterally declare an economic sanction on any state, and the Port Close Bill which allows the Government to refuse the entry of foreign ships from Japanese ports.  Obviously North Korea was the target of the both bills.

KONO champions the consumers’ issues in LDP.  He pushed the Party and refuted the banking industry to enact the Anti-Skimming Law of 2005.  In 2004 he successfully led the debate to pass the major amendment of the decade-old Consumer Protection Law.  As a freshman MP, KONO established a House subcommittee on Genetically Modified Organisms in 1997 and successfully installed the labeling rules on GMOs.  He has been actively promoting food safety rules.

In October 2002 KONO was named the Director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives and Acting Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Committee on Foreign Affairs. KONO resigned from his position as the Director of the House Foreign Affairs Committee after two months in protest to Foreign Minister Kawaguchi's repeated refusals to explain the Japanese Government's policy on Iraq.   KONO remained as the Acting Chairman of the Party Committee until November 2003 and was one of a few LDP Members to oppose the dispatch of the Self Defense Forces to Iraq.

In April 2002 KONO donated a part of his liver to his ailing father in a liver transplant operation.  His father, KONO Yohei, former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, has since recovered and was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in November 2003.

KONO Taro is now sponsoring the KONO Amendment to the Organ Transplant Law.  The Amendment would pave the way for the organ transplant operations for the children, which are not possible under the existing law in Japan.

KONO played a leading role in the passage of many Government Bills on various environment issues. 
KONO is a strong advocate of the Kyoto Protocol and leads the debate on global warming and other global environmentally related issues.  The Anti-Chlorofluoro-carbons Law of 2001 was a historic legislation. 

KONO has voiced strong concerns over the Government’s nuclear policy.  He is especially critical of the Government plan to pursue the nuclear fuel cycle.  KONO is trying to stop the operation of the nuclear waste re-treating plant to retract plutonium from the nuclear waste.  KONO also opposes building of new nuclear power plants as the Government has so far failed to deal with nuclear waste out of the power plants.

KONO strongly believes that the Japanese economy should be more market-oriented.  He advocates a smaller national government with less regulation.  During the bank crisis KONO supported tough measures for Japanese banks to deal with non-performing loans quickly, decisively and honestly.  He supports a stronger anti-trust law.  KONO has promoted the idea to raise the Consumption Tax rate to 8% and make it dedicated revenue for the National Pension.

KONO believes that Japan should amend the Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution to clarify that Japan should have the right and the adequate forces to defend itself independently and collectively.  He believes that the Japan-US Security Treaty is important in keeping stability in Asia.  KONO has publicly announced that an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier should replace the Kitty Hawk in Yokosuka by 2008.
He has publicly pledged that, when he is elected Prime Minister, he will not visit the Yasukuni Shrine.  He has been promoting the idea to erect a new non-religious Memorial for those who have died for Japan in the wars.

KONO has sponsored the United Nations Reform Bill that would require the Japanese Government to reduce its voluntary contributions to the UN Systems by 10% each year until the Security Council is reformed. KONO is against providing development aid to any countries that have failed to ratify the Complete Test Ban Treaty.

Born January 10, 1963, KONO enjoyed a warm family upbringing with a brother and a sister in Hiratsuka.  He graduated from KEIO Senior High School in Japan and the Suffield Academy in Suffield, Connecticut.   A 1985 graduate of Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service, KONO enjoyed Dr. Madeleine Albright's seminar on the American foreign policy process.  He also attended the Central School of Planning and Statistics (SGPiS) in Warsaw, Poland in 1984.
While in Washington, DC, KONO served for Democratic Congressman Richard Shelby of Alabama, now GOP Senior Senator of Alabama, for two years.
KONO joined Fuji Xerox in 1986.  He moved to Fuji Xerox Asia Pacific in Singapore in 1991.
KONO became Managing Director of Nippon Tanshi, a supplier of electric components for Toyota, GM and Matsushita etc. in 1993.

KONO was the Chairman of Shonan Bellmare, a Professional Football Club in Japan.   The Bellmare is currently in the Division Two of the J-League, but the Club was the 1995-1996 Asia Cup-Winners' Cup Champion and three time Emperor's Cup Winner, and has won the National League Championship three times in its history.
KONO was also Chairman of the Japan Race Horse Association, which organizes Japan's largest yearling sales.
KONO teaches a graduate class at the Hosei University at night.

KONO Taro is married to his wife, Kaori, and they have a son, Ippei, born in 2002.  Taro and Kaori are both scuba-divers and movie/theater-goers.