The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan Home Page
December 1999
Azuma was born in Tokyo on May 1, 1951. In his early days he was active in baseball and played in the brass band. After entering Soka University's Department of Economics in 1971 Azuma began studying Spanish, having been attracted to South America. He also started a study group on Latin America at the university and, after graduating, stayed in Mexico as a government-sponsored exchange student. Over these years Azuma deepened his interest in the North-South problem, which led him in 1975 to begin studying international economics at the Soka University Graduate School of Economics and, at the same time, to join the staff of the U.N. Industrial Development Organization.
In 1983, after earning a doctorate, Azuma became a staff member of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. In this capacity he traveled to numerous countries, primarily Honduras and Ethiopia, to support refugees; in Honduras he was assigned the task of receiving the refugees flowing into the country from civil-war-torn El Salvador. Through this experience Azuma strengthened his aspiration to "become a politician and give my services for the resolution of international issues, such as those involving refugees."
Azuma ran in the February 1990 Lower House election as a Komeito candidate from the Tokyo-6 constituency, winning a seat on his first try at the age of 38. In March 1991, in the wake of the Gulf War, he led a Komeito fact-finding mission on a two-week field survey of Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, during which the group examined the state of the oil spillage in the Persian Gulf and visited refugee camps in Iran and Jordan. Azuma additionally met with representatives of international organs, including the UNHCR, in Geneva, Switzerland. The mission was the first to enter Kuwait following the war, and the proposals it submitted to the Government of Japan after its return home resulted in government action--most notably activating financial assistance for efforts by the U.N. Environment Program to restore the region's natural environment.
Throughout his career, Azuma has been highly concerned with issues affecting our planet, and in June 1992 he attended the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as the leader of the Komeito delegation. Komeito made a presentation at the Japanese booth of the 1992 Global Forum for nongovernmental organizations and other groups, where Azuma described the itai-itai disease lawsuit (filed by victims and survivors of cadmium poisoning caused by mine discharges), outlined the state of pollution in Japan and the efforts being made to alleviate the problem, and responded to questions posed by attendees from around the world.
When the Hosokawa Cabinet was formed in August 1993, Azuma was appointed Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs. In October of that year he served as chairman of the first Tokyo International Conference on African Development, gave a speech at the U.N. General Assembly special session on drug-related issues as the representative of Japan, and chaired the Intergovernmental Conference on the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor, held in Tokyo on October 12 and 13. In December 1993, when election monitors were dispatched to Russia from around the world to oversee parliamentary elections there, he served as the leader of the team from Japan.
Azuma participated in the December 1994 launching of the New Frontier Party (Shinshinto), a party formed by eight opposition parties (belonging to nine parliamentary groups). In early 1998, following the NFP's dissolution at the end of 1997, he took part in forming the Liberal Party. Known as a policy expert particularly well versed in international issues and security policy, Azuma, during his NFP days, headed the party's project team on the basic security law in February 1996 and the Japanese delegation to China for the tenth Great Wall Project in 1999. The Great Wall Project was launched in 1989 to promote interchange between Japanese and Chinese youths, and in 1999--the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China-10 Diet members took part. Azuma's cosmopolitan career has been highly evaluated in the Liberal Party as well, for which he has served as an Executive Committee member, Chairman of the International Affairs Committee, and Chairman of the Defense Policy and Foreign Policy Research Councils. He is currently Associate Chairman of the Liberal Party Council of Party Chambers, Tokyo.
Azuma is well versed in English and Spanish and has visited over 60 countries to date. The people he admires are Kaishu Katsu, a hero of the Meiji Restoration, and Kemal Ataturk, the first President of Turkey. He and his wife, Noriko, have two daughters.
Brief Personal History
| May 1, 1951 | Born in Tokyo. |
| 1983 | Earns a doctorate from the Soka University Graduate School of Economics. Joins the staff of the UNHCR. |
| 1990 | Elected to the House of Representatives (now serving his third term). Appointed director of the Komeito Youth Bureau. |
| 1993 | Appointed Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs. Chairs the first Tokyo International Conference on African Development. Heads the Japanese team for monitoring the elections of the new Russian parliament. |
| 1994 | Appointed Director of the Komeito Labor Bureau. |
| 1995 | Appointed Director of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs. |
| 1998 | Appointed Deputy Secretary General of the Liberal Party. |
| January 1999 | Appointed Chairman of the Liberal Party International Affairs Committee. |
| October 1999 | Appointed Senior State Secretary for Foreign Affairs. |