SUGA
Yoshihide

• 1. Early life and education
• 2. Personal life

Yoshihide Suga is a Japanese politician who has been Prime Minister of Japan since September 2020. He was Chief Cabinet Secretary under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2020 and Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications from 2006 to 2007.

Born to a family of strawberry farmers in rural Akita Prefecture, Suga moved to Tokyo after graduating from high school, where he enrolled in Hosei University. Shortly after graduating with a Bachelor of Laws, Suga became an aide to Representative Hikosaburo Okonogi in 1975, before entering politics himself when he was elected to the Yokohama Municipal Assembly in 1987. In the 1996 election, Suga was elected to the House of Representatives, representing Kanagawa's 2nd district as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

During his time in the Diet, Suga became a close ally of then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe. When Abe first became Prime Minister in 2006, he appointed Suga to the Cabinet as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications. Suga left the Cabinet a year later, but after the LDP won the 2012 election, Suga was appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary, a role he would hold throughout Abe's second term as Prime Minister. This made him the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history. In September 2020, after Abe announced that he would resign due to health concerns, Suga declared his candidacy in the subsequent LDP leadership election. Widely considered the frontrunner, Suga comfortably won the election on 14 September with 70% of the vote. Two days later, he was formally elected Prime Minister by the Diet and appointed by Emperor Naruhito, making him the first new Prime Minister of the Reiwa era.

At his first press conference as the Prime Minister, Suga stated that his premiership will focus first on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, second on protecting employment and preserving economic conditions in light of the pandemic, third on continuing the Abenomics suite of economic policies, and fourth on digital transformation and the review of supply chains. It had been reported after LDP leadership election that he had stated that his premiership will focus on continuing the policies and goals of the Abe administration, including the Abenomics suite of economics policies, the revision of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, and securing the release of Japanese abductees from North Korea.

Early life and education

Suga was born to a family of strawberry farmers in Ogachi (now Yuzawa), a rural area in Akita Prefecture, and moved to Tokyo after graduation from Yuzawa High School. He attended night school to obtain a Bachelor of Laws from Hosei University in 1973. Suga chose Hosei "because it was the cheapest option available" and he "worked in a cardboard factory in Tokyo to pay his tuition".

Personal life

Suga is married and has three sons. His wife, Mariko, is the sister of one of his former co-workers in the office of Hikosaburo Okonogi. Seigoh, eldest son is former director of Tohokushinsha Film (discharged on Feb. 2021).

Suga has a daily fitness routine, which includes doing 100 situps and 40 minutes of walking each morning, and 100 situps each night. He started this routine after a doctor advised him to lose weight, and he lost 14 kg (31 lb) in four months. He is also known as a voracious reader, and is known for reading all major newspapers daily despite his busy schedule.

Suga practiced karate when he was a college student. He holds the third dan black belt.

Suga is known to have a sweet tooth. His favorite food is pancakes. His lunch is almost always soba. He neither smokes nor drinks.