Masako Mori (politician)


Masako Mori is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet. She was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 2007 after running unsuccessfully for governor of Fukushima Prefecture in 2006. Her legal name is Masako Miyoshi, but she is professionally known by her maiden surname of Mori. She has been the Minister of Justice since 31 October 2019.

Career

She is a mother of two and a lawyer. Mori graduated from Tohoku University, passed the bar exam in 1992, then went to New York University School of Law as a visiting researcher. In 2005, she joined the Financial Services Agency and in 2006, left to run for governor of Fukushima Prefecture which ended unsuccessfully by losing to Gov. Yuhei Sato. In 2007, she entered the Upper House and has been vice chairwoman of the LDP's judicial committee and chairwoman of the Upper House Committee on Oversight of Administration. Mori focused mainly on consumer rights throughout her career and has put great effort in trying to restore the damaged territories in the Tohoku region caused by the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. On December 26, 2012, Mori was named to the second Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as Minister of State for the Declining Birthrate and consumer affairs.
On 12 March 2020, Mori apologized and retracted a comment she made the day before at a meeting of the House of Councillors Budget Committee accusing public prosecutors of fleeing from her home city of Iwaki before evacuation orders were issued amid the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.