KONO Taro, 49, is a fifth-term Liberal Democratic Member of the House of Representatives.

KONO Taro represents the 15th District of Kanagawa Prefecture, which includes the cities of Chigasaki, Hiratsuka, Oiso and Ninomiya on the Sagami Bay.

KONO was first elected to the House of Representatives as a Liberal Democratic Member in October 1996, at age 33, and has been re-elected without fail since. His winning majority increased from 13,297 in 1996 to 103,280 in 2005. In the 2005 General Election KONO received 186,770 votes, which was the second largest number of votes in Japan's electoral history; second only to the then Prime Minister Koizumi, also in 2005.

In the 2009 General Election, in which the LDP lost nearly two-thirds of its previously held seats, KONO earned 163,470 votes and was re-elected for a fifth consecutive term.

After the LDP's devastating defeat in the 2009 General Election, KONO ran for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party. Although KONO was leading in public opinion polls, KONO came in second to the former Finance Minister, TANIGAKI Sadakazu in the actual vote by the LDP card-carrying members.

KONO served under LDP President Tanigaki as Deputy Secretary-General of the Party and in his Shadow Cabinet. KONO, however, resigned from all the Party posts in protest when Tanigaki tried to close the Parliamentary Session after the Earthquake and Tsunami to embarrass the Government of the Democratic Party of Japan.

Until the Parliament was dissolved in August 2009, KONO was the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of the Representatives. KONO also served in Prime Minister Koizumi's final government as Senior Vice Minister of Justice from November 2005 to September 2006. In 2002 he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Public Management, with responsibilities including administrative reforms, local government matters, and e-Government.

KONO donated part of his liver to his ailing father, KONO Yohei, former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, in a liver transplant operation in April 2002. KONO Yohei later became the longest serving Speaker of the House of Representatives. KONO Taro introduced major amendment to the Organ Transplant Law and secured its passage in 2009.

In 2004 KONO co-sponsored and enacted the Economic Sanction Amendment to the Foreign Exchange Law and the Port Close Law which allow the Government to refuse the entry of North Korean ships into Japanese ports.

KONO has championed consumer issues in LDP since he successfully established the new labeling rules on Genetically Modified Organisms. He sponsored the Consumer Protection Law of 2004 and enacted the Anti-Skimming Law of 2005. KONO has also played a leading role in the passage of many Government Bills on various environmental issues. KONO is a strong advocate of the Kyoto Protocol and has led the debate on global warming issues. He also enacted the Anti-Chlorofluoro-carbons Law of 2001.

KONO has voiced strong concerns over the Government's nuclear policy since 1997. He is especially critical of the Government's pursuit of the so-called 'closed' nuclear fuel cycle whereby plutonium is extracted from spent fuel by re-processing within Japan. KONO also opposes the building of new nuclear power plants.

KONO strongly supports the TPP as he believes that the Japanese economy should be open and more market-oriented. He advocates a smaller national government with less regulation. During the bank crisis in Japan KONO supported tough measures requiring Japanese banks to deal with non-performing loans quickly, decisively and honestly. KONO has been leading bi-partisan debates on the National Pension reform.

KONO believes that Japan should amend the Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution in order to clarify Japan's right to defend itself and thereby maintain adequate forces in order to do so. In 2008 KONO publically supported the replacement of the retiring USS Kitty Hawk, an American conventional aircraft carrier, with an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. KONO was one of only a few LDP Members to oppose the dispatch of the Self Defense Forces to Iraq.

As the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, KONO conducted research into a secret accord with the US Government on the introduction of US nuclear weapons into Japan, resulting in him demanding that the Government officially acknowledge the existence of the Accord.

Born January 10, 1963, KONO enjoyed a warm family upbringing with his brother and sister in Hiratsuka. He graduated from KEIO Senior High School in Japan and the Suffield Academy in Suffield, Connecticut. A graduate of Georgetown University with the Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service, KONO had the privilege of attending 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 had served as Managing Director in Nippon Tanshi, a supplier of electric components for Toyota, GM, Matsushita, etc. from 1993 to 1996.

KONO is a former Chairman of the Shonan Bellmare, a Professional Football Club in Japan, winner of the 1995-1996 AFC Cup-Winners' Cup and three time winners of both the Emperor's Cup and the National League. KONO is also Chairman of the Japan Race Horse Association, a non-profit organization which organizes Japan's largest thoroughbred yearling sales. KONO also teaches an evening graduate class at the Hosei University. KONO Taro and his wife, Kaori, have a son, Ippei, who was born in 2002. The KONOs are keen scuba-divers and movie/theater-goers