Norihiko Akagi

Norihiko Akagi (赤城 徳彦, Akagi Norihiko; born April 18, 1959) is a former Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party who served as a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).

Norihiko Akagi
赤城 徳彦
Official portrait, 2002
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
In office 1 June 2007 – 1 August 2007
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe
Preceded by	Toshikatsu Matsuoka
Succeeded by	Masatoshi Wakabayashi
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 18 February 1990 – 21 July 2009
Preceded by	Multi-member district
Succeeded by	Nobuyuki Fukushima
Constituency	Ibaraki 3rd (1990–1996) Ibaraki 1st (1996–2009)
Personal details
Born	(1959-04-18) 18 April 1959 (age 66) Akeno, Ibaraki, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Alma mater	University of Tokyo

A native of Makabe District, Ibaraki and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he worked at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries from 1983 to 1988. He was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1990.

Akagi took office as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries after the suicide of his predecessor, Toshikatsu Matsuoka, in May 2007.^[1] Not even two months after being inaugurated, Akagi found himself indicted in a political funding scandal not entirely different from the one his predecessor had been embroiled in - he was alleged to have registered multi-million yen expenditures on an office which did not exist.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Akagi was asked to make receipts official but refused. On July 17, he appeared at a press conference with two adhesive plasters on his face, puzzling reporters but still refusing to make receipts official.^[7]

Akagi resigned as Minister on August 1, 2007, after the upper house election. Minister of the Environment, Masatoshi Wakabayashi, became concurrent Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and stayed until August 27, 2007, when Shinzō Abe announced a new cabinet. Akagi's virtual successor was Takehiko Endo appointed on August 27.