The
Finance Minister of Japan, as of this printing. Shiokawa was Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi’s campaign chief during the 2001 leadership race for the
Liberal Democratic Party, which is Japan’s ruling party. Shiokawa belongs to
the Mori faction within the LDP. He lost his seat in the Lower House election
in October 1996 but made a comeback in 2000 at age 78. Shiokawa has served 11
terms in the Japanese Diet. He was chief cabinet secretary under Takeo Fukuda,
transport minister under Zenko Suzuki, education minister in the cabinet of
Yasuhiro Nakasone, chief cabinet secretary under Sousuke Uno, and home affairs
minister under Kiichi Miyazawa.