Seishirō Etō

Seishirō Etō (衛藤 征士郎, Etō Seishirō; born April 29, 1941) is a former Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, who served as a member of the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan.

Seishirō Etō
衛藤 征士郎
Etō in 2021
Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan
In office 16 September 2009 – 16 November 2012
Monarch	Akihito
Speaker	Takahiro Yokomichi
Preceded by	Takahiro Yokomichi
Succeeded by	Hirotaka Akamatsu
Director-General of the Japan Defense Agency
In office 8 August 1995 – 11 January 1996
Prime Minister	Tomiichi Murayama
Preceded by	Tokuichiro Tamazawa
Succeeded by	Hideo Usui
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 18 December 1983 – 9 October 2024
Preceded by	Multi-member district
Succeeded by	Ken Hirose
Constituency	Ōita 1st (1983–1996) Ōita 2nd (1996–2009; 2012–2024) Kyushu PR (2009–2012)
Member of the House of Councillors
In office 11 July 1977 – 9 July 1983
Preceded by	Ryōhei Kudō
Succeeded by	Keigi Kajiwara
Constituency	Ōita at-large
Mayor of Kusu
In office April 1971 – July 1977
Personal details
Born	(1941-04-29) 29 April 1941 (age 84) Koshin, Zenranan-dō, Japanese Korea (now Gangjin, South Jeolla, South Korea)
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Alma mater	Waseda University

Career

Etō with Keiji Furuya (at the Presidential Office Building (Republic of China) on 20 May 2016)

A native of Kusu District, Ōita, he attended Waseda University as both undergraduate and graduate. He was elected: in 1971 as the Mayor of the town of Kusu, Ōita, elected in 1977 to the House of Councilors and elected in 1983 to the House of Representatives for his inaugural term; Eto has been returned to office eight times for the 2nd District for Oita Prefecture. In 1995, he was the Director General of the Japan Defense Agency and in 2001, he was Senior Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs. In 2002, he was elected as a head of the LDP's Oita Prefecture chapter and in 2009, he was elected as Vice-Speaker for the House of Representatives.

Etō was a leader in the movement to make Mountain Day a national holiday,^[1] and was affiliated with the revisionist lobby Nippon Kaigi.^[2][3]

Honours

• Armenia: Medal of Honour by the National Assembly of Armenia.^[4]
• Netherlands: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau (29 October 2014)^[5]
• Pakistan: Hilal-i-Pakistan (2019).^[6]