She was Special Advisor to the Prime Minister (naikaku sōri-daijin hosakan) for the North Korean abduction issue under Junichiro Koizumi, beginning in 2002.

She was appointed by Yasuo Fukuda as State Minister in charge of the Population and Gender Equality Issues on August 1, 2008.

[1][2] A graduate of the University of Tokyo (with a major in French literature), she worked at the Ministry of Finance from 1966 until 1999, when she was appointed as ambassador of Japan to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Her husband, Nariaki Nakayama, is a former transport minister and was also a diet member.

[2] She and her husband left the LDP and joined the Sunrise Party of Japan on June 21, 2010.