Background
SANTO, Akiko was born on May 11, 1942.
山東 昭子
Actor voice actor member of the House of Councillors seiyū
SANTO, Akiko was born on May 11, 1942.
Bunka Gakuin.
Santo was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 1974 after working as an actress and reporter. Santo was Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Environment(Ohira Cabinet), and State Minister and Director General of Science and Technology Agency (Kaifu Cabinet, 1990–91). Santo played a role in the sale of 3 of the Senkaku Islands.
She'd known the landowner (Kurihara family) for 30 years, and in 2011 he told her that he wanted to sell to Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara (whose nationalistic book he liked), instead of to the Government and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. Like Ishihara, Santo is affiliated to the openly revisionist lobby Nippon Kaigi, which claims Japan's ownership of these islands, that are also claimed by China (as Diaoyu).
A native of Tokyo and graduate of Bunka Gakuin, Santo is the grand-niece of Kodama Ryotaro (September 1872 - October 25, 1921), a member of the House of Representatives. She became Vice President of the House of Councillors in 2007, and chaired the Joint Plenary Meeting of Party Members of Both Houses of the Diet.
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