[1] He served as Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology from October 2018 to September 2019.

He graduated from the University of Tokyo and joined Sumitomo Real Estate in 1990, but resigned thereafter to study for the Japanese bar examination, which he passed in 1998.

In 2008, he was named Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and maintained this post under the cabinet of Taro Aso.

After the LDP returned to power in the 2012 general election, he was named Senior Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications in the second Shinzo Abe cabinet.

[2] He also serves as a "special advisor" to the prime minister, acting as a spokesman for the Abe government with regard to its fiscal stimulus policies,[3] and argued in 2016 that "doubling the number of foreign workers [in Japan] cannot be avoided in this global market situation.