Heizo Takenaka

Japan state institutions Conservatism and Christian democracy 1951.3.3.–

Japanese economist and minister who led the bad-loan clean-up and labour dispatch deregulation in Koizumi's cabinet

Born to a family of shoe sellers in Wakayama, Takenaka graduated from Hitotsubashi University, worked at the Development Bank of Japan and a Ministry of Finance research institute, and became a professor at Keio University in 1996. Named Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy by Koizumi in 2001 and given financial services as well in 2002, he wrote the Takenaka Plan, which tightened scrutiny of bank assets. The amendments of the Worker Dispatching Act in 2003–04 widened the use of dispatched labour. He entered the House of Councillors in 2004, took charge of Japan Post privatisation, and left politics in 2006. As chairman of the staffing company Pasona Group in 2009–22 he was criticised for profiting from the deregulation he had promoted.

Also known as: Heizō Takenaka