Toshiko Hamayotsu

Toshiko Hamayotsu (浜四津 敏子, Hamayotsu Toshiko)(January 6, 1945 - November 29, 2020) was a Japanese politician of the New Komeito Party who served as a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature) from 1992 to 2010.

She was born in Taipei, Taiwan (then under Japanese administration) and graduated from Keio University in 1967.

From January to November 1998, she served as the president of the New Komeito Party.

[1] In 2002, she proposed a bill to create an enhanced version of life imprisonment for serious offenses, with the ultimate goal of sparking debate about the abolition of the death penalty in Japan.

[3] On February 16, 2023, Komeito announced that Hamayotsu died in November 2020 at age 75.