Education
Seijo University; Seijo Gakuen Junior High School and High School. Waseda University.
小渕 優子
Seijo University; Seijo Gakuen Junior High School and High School. Waseda University.
She briefly served as Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry during the Abe Government, but was forced to resign. A graduate of Seijo University which has produced many actors and television personalities, Obuchi worked at the broadcaster Turner Broadcasting System from 1996 to 1998. She was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2000, winning her father"s former Diet seat when he died shortly after suffering a stroke while in office.
On September 24, 2008, Obuchi and Shinjirō Koizumi was appointed Minister of State for Social Affairs and Gender Equality in the cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso.
This made her Japan"s youngest cabinet member in the post-war era. Her party was out of office from September, 2009 until December 2012.
In December 2012, she was appointed Vice Minister of Finance by the new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and on 3 September 2014, she was made Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in Abe"s cabinet. As such, she became the minister responsible for the nuclear industry in Japan, with partial responsibility for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster clean-up.
Obuchi resigned from her position as the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry on October 19, 2014, amid allegations of abuse of donation funds.
Her departure has been seen as a blow to the Shinzo Abe administration.
She is a member of the House of Representatives for the Liberal Democratic Party.