Ryosei Akazawa

is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party and member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature), representing the Tottori 2nd district in Tottori Prefecture.

Early life Akazawa was born into a former samurai family. His great-grandfather, Kohei, was a samurai who served the Hachisuka Clan, the Lords of Tokushima, and later became an industrialist. In the 1890s, he moved to what is now Akazawa's constituency to build a railway line. Akazawa's grandfather, Masamichi Akazawa, studied at the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) and served as a parliamentarian for over two decades. He held the position of Minister for Home Affairs in Hayato Ikeda's cabinet.

Akazawa grew up in Bunkyō, Tokyo, and attended the Junior and Senior High School at Komaba. He went on to study law at UTokyo, following in his grandfather's footsteps. After graduating, Akazawa joined the civil service at the Ministry of Transport. In 1985, he had a life-changing experience when a Boeing 747 crashed with 524 people on board, killing all but four. He was working at the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau at the time, and his team was directly responsible for handling the aftermath of the accident. Another disaster he dealt with at the Ministry was the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995. After experiencing these events, Akazawa developed a strong sense that saving lives and managing risk were his primary missions.

Akazawa earned an MBA from Cornell University in the United States in 1991. Kaieda resigned several days later.

In October 2024, he was appointed Minister of Economic Revitalization, Minister in Charge of New Capitalism, Minister in Charge of Wage Improvement, Minister in Charge of Startups, Minister in Charge of All-Generation Social Security Reform, Minister in Charge of Infectious Disease Crisis Management, and Minister in Charge of Preparation for the Establishment of the Disaster Prevention Agency.

Ever since he was first elected, Akazawa has been known as the closest aide to Prime Minister Ishiba, who is elected from the other constituency in Tottori prefecture. Akazawa refers to himself as Premier Ishiba’s left-hand person, explaining on his post on X that calling himself the Prime Minister’s right-hand would feel too arrogant, while aide would sound as though he were the premier's brain.

Honours Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau (29 October 2014)