Masatoshi Wakabayashi

Masatoshi Wakabayashi (若林 正俊, Wakabayashi Masatoshi; 4 July 1934 – 11 November 2023) was a Japanese politician who was a member of Liberal Democratic Party.

Masatoshi Wakabayashi
若林 正俊
Wakabayashi in 2007
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
In office 4 September 2007 – 2 August 2008
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe Yasuo Fukuda
Preceded by	Akira Amari (acting) Takehiko Endo
Succeeded by	Seiichi Ota
In office 1 August 2007 – 27 August 2007
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe
Preceded by	Norihiko Akagi
Succeeded by	Takehiko Endo
Acting 28 May 2007 – 1 June 2007
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe
Preceded by	Toshikatsu Matsuoka
Succeeded by	Norihiko Akagi
Minister of the Environment
In office 26 September 2006 – 27 August 2007
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe
Preceded by	Yuriko Koike
Succeeded by	Ichirō Kamoshita
Member of the House of Councillors
In office 26 July 1998 – 2 April 2010
Preceded by	Kiyoshi Imai
Succeeded by	Kenta Wakabayashi
Constituency	Nagano at-large
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 19 July 1993 – 27 September 1996
Preceded by	Isamu Shimizu
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Constituency	Nagano 1st
In office 19 December 1983 – 24 January 1990
Constituency	Nagano 1st
Personal details
Born	(1934-07-04)4 July 1934 Sarashina, Nagano, Japan
Died	11 November 2023(2023-11-11) (aged 89) Tokyo, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Alma mater	University of Tokyo

Political career

With members of the Yasuo Fukuda Cabinet (26 September 2007)

Wakabayashi became the third Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries appointed in Shinzō Abe's first cabinet after Toshikatsu Matsuoka killed himself as a result of financial scandal and Matsuoka's successor Norihiko Akagi resigned due to other financial scandals. He was appointed to the same position again in Abe's first reshuffled cabinet after Takehiko Endo's resignation.

After Abe's resignation, he worked under Yasuo Fukuda, who appointed Seiichi Ota his successor.

After the LDP were defeated in the 2009 election, it was unclear who would be their candidate in the diet nomination for prime minister, since Taro Aso had already announced his resignation as party president and no successor had been chosen. The party ultimately decided to nominate Wakabayashi, who was then chairman of the general assembly of LDP diet members, for Prime Minister, though he had no hope of being elected.^[1]

Resignation and death

In March 2010 he resigned from the Diet after being accused of pressing the voting button for fellow lawmaker Mikio Aoki, whose Diet seat was next to him, while Aoki was absent from a house plenary vote.^[2][3]

Wakabayashi died in Tokyo on 11 November 2023, at the age of 89.^[4]

Honours

• Japan:
  • Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (July 2011)