Zentarō Kosaka

was a Japanese politician who served two terms as foreign minister and as labour minister.

Early life and education Hailing from Nagano Prefecture, Kosaka was born into a politician family on 23 January 1912. His grandfather, Zennosuke Kosaka, was the founder of the daily Shinano Mainichi and a politician. His father, Junzo Kosaka, was also a politician. His younger brother, Tokusaburo Kosaka, was a leading politician of the Liberal Democratic Party. Zentaro Kosaka was a graduate of Tokyo University of Commerce (present-day Hitotsubashi University). In the party he was part of the Kōchikai faction headed by Hayato Ikeda. He was appointed labour minister in the Yoshida Cabinet, and foreign minister in the cabinets of Hayato Ikeda and Takeo Miki.

Kosaka's first term as foreign minister was from 19 July 1960 to 18 July 1962. Assuming the post shortly after the massive Anpo Protests against the US-Japan Security Treaty, Kosaka's most pressing task was to restore good relations with the United States. Kosaka recalled, "In the immediate aftermath of the Security Treaty riots, repairing US-Japan relations was our single biggest concern." To this end, Kosaka visited the United States several times and helped arrange a summit meeting between Prime Minister Ikeda and President John F. Kennedy in Washington D.C. in June 1961. They both held the views of right-conservatism, arguing for Japan's independence from the US and normalized relations with China. In 1970, Kosaka argued that Japan should declare a "no-war" notice in order to reduce tensions between Japan and China. He was also the head of political affairs research committee in the LDP during the same period. The task of the council that consisted of 312 members was to reach a consensus, since the pro-Taiwan and pro-Peking factions over the whole peace treaty issue emerged in the party. At the beginning of the 1980s, he served as the chairman of the LDP's foreign affairs research council. Kosaka retired from politics in 1990. Kosaka participated his son's election campaign for the lower house in the Nagano district in 1990.

Awards and legacy Kosaka was awarded the U.N. peace prize in 1982.

Death Kosaka died of renal failure in Tokyo on 26 November 2000. He was 88.