Born to a family of strawberry farmers in rural Akita Prefecture, Suga moved to Tokyo after graduating from high school, where he enrolled in Hosei University.

Shortly after graduating, Suga became an aide to Representative Hikosaburo Okonogi in 1975, before entering politics himself when he was elected to the Yokohama Municipal Assembly in 1987.

Suga's time in office also saw the holding of the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo and the announcement of a plan for Japan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

While Suga began his time in office relatively popular, his approval ratings fell due to public dissatisfaction with the government's handling of the pandemic and the Olympic Games.

[5] He was elected to the Yokohama City Council in April 1987, campaigning door-to-door on foot, visiting as many as 30,000 houses and wearing through six pairs of shoes.

[6][7][8] He pioneered the practice of giving campaign speeches in front of busy train stations, which is now common among Japanese political candidates.

In his third year in the Diet, he shifted his support from Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi to former LDP Secretary-General Seiroku Kajiyama, an unusual move for a junior legislator.

[23][24] While he had previously been a low-profile member of the government, this honor gave him an instant surge in name recognition and led more LDP lawmakers to view him as a viable candidate for party leadership.

[2][14] He was sent to Washington in May 2019 for a meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and other senior officials, fueling speculation that he was being groomed to serve as Abe's successor.

He criticized the structure of the Japanese bureaucracy, with deep divisions between ministries, as stalling coordination to stop the spread of the virus.

[29][30] Upon his election, Suga outlined a policy agenda that included tackling the ongoing pandemic and implementing further deregulation to revitalize the economy.

[37] In October 2020, Suga made his first trips abroad to Vietnam and Indonesia,[38] with analysts saying that he chose those two countries amid the growing tensions between one of its closest allies, the United States, and China.

[39] Suga also vowed to strengthen ties with Southeast Asian countries and signed an agreement allowing his government to export defense equipment and technology to Vietnam.

[40][41] Suga has also committed to stronger ties with US President Joe Biden to discuss the US-Japan security alliance, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.

[42] In particular, Suga considered attending a global climate summit proposed by Biden in a push to bring nations in line with Japan's goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

Suga has made previous environmental commitments, such as a ¥2 trillion fund to promote research into decarbonization technologies and the setting of specific goals at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties in the UK in November 2021.

In July 2021, he held a remote meeting with Pacific nations leaders and pledged 3 million COVID-19 vaccines in an effort to counter Chinese influence.

[47] In his 2021 New Year's address, Suga pledged to bring COVID-19 under control and to push forward with preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, which had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[48] Suga implemented the GoTo stimulus program, which provides steep discounts for domestic travel in response to the economic consequences of the pandemic.

[51] His attendance at an expensive steak dinner for eight, which included several celebrities and politicians and had happened after his decision to suspend "GoTo Travel", was deprecated by the public; all attendees were over 70, a high-risk age group for the virus.

[56] The emergency included restrictions on daily life, with remote work encouraged and residents being urged to avoid non-essential outings; however, schools remained open.

[63] In an election widely seen as a referendum on the ruling LDP's Coronavirus response, the candidate that Suga endorsed lost the Yokohama mayoral race in August by a considerable margin putting considerable pressure on Suga's reelection chances in the upcoming national election, as an MP representing Kanagawa.

[65] This announcement followed his approval ratings being at an all-time low (below 30% in recent polls) as the nation struggled with its worst wave of COVID-19 infections ahead of the general election that year.

[67][68] On 29 September 2021, the LDP elected former foreign minister Fumio Kishida as new leader of the party and virtually making the prime minister-designate of Japan.