Shūji Masutani

was a Japanese jurist and politician who was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He served at the House of Representatives for more than 26 years.

Biography Masutani was born in Ushitsu Town, Ishikawa Prefecture, on 17 January 1888. He was a graduate of both the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University.

Masutani joined the Rikken Seiyūkai in the 1920s. He was part of the factions led by Shigeru Yoshida and then by Hayato Ikeda. Masutani served as the chairman of the executive board of the party between 1950 and 1952.

Masutani held various posts, including secretary to the president of the board of census, parliamentary vice minister of foreign affairs and construction minister under Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida. In the period between 1959 and 1960 he was the deputy prime minister, minister of state and director of the administrative management agency in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi.

Masutani was a close associate and loyal ally of Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda, but was also seen as more friendly to liberal causes. Similarly, later that same year, he was appointed chairman of the Investigative Commission on Security, in order to nullify claims from hawks within the LDP that Ikeda was soft on national security but without antagonizing the left-wing parties. Masutani remained in the latter post until 1967, when Naka Funada became the chairman of the commission.

Masutani was the recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun, First Class Grand Cordon, which was awarded to him 1961.