Tsuruyo Kondo

Tsuruyo Kondo (近藤鶴代) (November 16, 1901 – August 9, 1970) was a Japanese politician.

Tsuruyo Kondo
近藤鶴代
Tsuruyo Kondo in 1962
Science and Technology Agency
In office 1962–1963
Prime Minister	Hayato Ikeda
Constituency	Okayama Prefecture
Personal details
Born	November 16, 1901 Niimi, Okayama Prefecture, Japan
Died	August 9, 1970
Nationality	Japanese
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Alma mater	Japan Women's University

Biography

Kondo was born in Niimi, Okayama prefecture on November 16, 1901.[1] In 1924 she graduated from the Japan Women's University and began working at two schools in Okayama, the Sanyo Koto Jogakko and the Okayama-ken Daiichi Okayama Koto Jogakko.[2] She taught manners and home economics.

In 1946, after World War II, Kondo's brother, a politician affiliated with the Japan Progressive Party named Kotani Setsuo, was purged, preventing him from running for office. Kondo ran in his stead without a party to represent Okayama prefecture in the House of Representatives. She was one of the first female politicians in post-war Japan.[3] After being elected she belonged to the Liberal Party, then the Democratic Liberal Party, then the Freedom Party. In 1948, she was selected to become the Parliamentary Vice-Minister in Shigeru Yoshida's cabinet.

Kondo was reelected four times, until she lost the 1953 and 1955 elections. She returned to politics when she was elected to the House of Councillors in 1956, representing Okayama prefecture.[4] Kondo aligned herself with Banboku Oono's faction within the Liberal Democratic Party.

After being re-elected in 1962, Kondo was offered a position in Hayato Ikeda's cabinet as the chairwoman of the Japanese Atomic Energy Commission and the director of the Japanese Science and Technology Agency.[5] After Masa Nakayama, Kondo was the second woman ever appointed to the Japanese cabinet.[1]

Kondo retired from politics in 1968. She died in 1970 at the age of 68.[1]

Further reading

• Nakamura, Junsuke (1974). 薊の記―近藤鶴代伝 [Record of a thistle: A Biography of Tsuruyo Kondo]. Tokyo: Pelican.

References

1. 日本人名大辞典+Plus, デジタル版. "近藤鶴代(こんどう つるよ)とは". コトバンク (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-01-22.
2. "昭和３７年　原子力委員会月報７(8)原子力委員会委員長に近藤鶴代氏就任". www.aec.go.jp. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
3. C., Mackie, Vera (2003). Feminism in modern Japan : citizenship, embodiment, and sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 240. ISBN 9780511675072. OCLC 667084879.
4. "女性大臣の系譜 写真特集：時事ドットコム". 時事ドットコム (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-01-22.
5. Political Handbook of the World. Center for Comparative Political Research of the State University of New York at Binghamton and for the Council on Foreign Relations. 1963.