Honorary Kissinger Fellow
Kono Taro, 60, a ninth-term member of the House of Representatives, has been appointed Japan's Minister for Digital Transformation, Minister for Digital Reform, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety and Minister in charge of Civil Service Reform. Among positions he has held in the past are Foreign Minister; Defense Minister; Minister in charge of COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-out; Minister in charge of Administrative Reform; Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, or Minister in charge of the National Police Organization; Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, Minister of State for Regulatory Reform; Minister for Disaster Management; and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. He is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.
