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Recipients of Japanese decorations

Recipients of the Grand Cordon, including former House of Councillors President Hidehisa Otsuji (7th from L) and former Supreme Court chief justice Saburo Tokura (8th from L), pose for a commemorative photo following the conferment ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Nov. 11, 2025.

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Recipients of Japanese decorations

Recipients of the Grand Cordon, including former House of Councillors President Hidehisa Otsuji (C) and former Supreme Court chief justice Saburo Tokura (C,R), pose for a commemorative photo following the conferment ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Nov. 11, 2025.

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Imperial conferment of decorations

Japanese Emperor Naruhito (L) speaks to former House of Councillors President Hidehisa Otsuji during a Grand Cordon conferment ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Nov. 11, 2025. (Pool photo)

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Imperial conferment of decorations

Japanese Emperor Naruhito (L) confers the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers to former House of Councillors President Hidehisa Otsuji during a ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Nov. 11, 2025. (Pool photo)

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YouTuber GaaSyy loses seat for missing Diet sessions

Hidehisa Otsuji, president of Japan's House of Councillors, announces the expulsion of Yoshikazu Higashitani, who goes by the name GaaSyy, from the upper house, in Tokyo on March 15, 2023, after it voted to remove the YouTuber for not attending any parliamentary sessions since being elected in 2022. He is the first member of the Diet to be removed since 1951 and the first to be reprimanded for being absent.

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Japan hands over its analysis on N. Korea abduction probe

BEIJING, China - Hidehisa Horinouchi (L in car), minister at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, leaves the North Korean Embassy there Dec. 25 after handing over to North Korea an analysis on documents and materials provided by the North on its investigation into the cases of 10 Japanese, whom the Japanese government maintains were abducted by Pyongyang.

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Abe appoints top LDP executives

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (C) poses with five newly appointed senior Liberal Democratic Party executives at the party headquarters in Tokyo on Aug. 27. From left to right: Hidehisa Otsuji, head of the LDP House of Councillors caucus; Taro Aso, LDP secretary general; Abe; Toshihiro Nikai, chairman of the LDP General Council; Nobuteru Ishihara, chairman of the LDP Policy Research Council; and Asaaki Yamazaki, secretary general of the LDP House of Councillors caucus.

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Japanese lawmakers visit Yasukuni

TOKYO, Japan - (From L) Takeo Hiranuma, chairman of the small opposition Party for Future Generation as well as Liberal Democratic Party's Hidehisa Otsuji and Ichiro Aisawa lead a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Oct. 17, 2014, to pay homage during its autumn festival.

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Bipartisan lawmakers visit Yasukuni

TOKYO, Japan - A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including its chief Hidehisa Otsuji, visits the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, 2014, the 69th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. Three Cabinet ministers also visited there, drawing criticism from China and South Korea.

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Bipartisan lawmakers visit Yasukuni

TOKYO, Japan - A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including its chief Hidehisa Otsuji, visits the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, 2014, the 69th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. Three Cabinet ministers also visited there, drawing criticism from China and South Korea.

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Bipartisan lawmakers visit Yasukuni

TOKYO, Japan - A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including its chief Hidehisa Otsuji, visits the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, 2014, the 69th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. Three Cabinet ministers also visited there, drawing criticism from China and South Korea.

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Bipartisan lawmakers visit Yasukuni

TOKYO, Japan - A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including its chief Hidehisa Otsuji, visits the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, 2014, the 69th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. Three Cabinet ministers also visited there, drawing criticism from China and South Korea.

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Japan's embassy minister greets Chinese President Xi

SHANGHAI, China - Hidehisa Horinouchi (L, C), minister at the Japanese Embassy in China, shows a document to Chinese President Xi Jinping (R, C) before gathering for a group photo for participants in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia held in Shanghai, China, on May 20, 2014. Horinouchi attended the conference as an observer.

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Lawmakers visit Yasukuni Shrine

TOKYO, Japan - Hidehisa Otsuji (front L), head of a nonpartisan group of Japanese lawmakers, and other members of the group visit the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Oct. 18, 2013, to offer prayers during its annual autumn festival.

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Lawmakers visit Yasukuni Shrine

TOKYO, Japan - Hidehisa Otsuji (front L), head of a nonpartisan group of Japanese lawmakers, and other members of the group visit the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Oct. 18, 2013, to offer prayers during its annual autumn festival.

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Tanigaki taps Oshima as LDP secretary general

TOKYO, Japan - New Liberal Democratic Party President Sadakazu Tanigaki (C) joins hands with new party executives he tapped on Sept. 29, 2009. (From L to R) Policy Research Council Chairman Shigeru Ishiba, Secretary General Tadamori Oshima, Tanigaki, General Council Chairman Ryotaro Tanose and Hidehisa Otsuji, chairman of the LDP caucus in the House of Councillors.

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:Premier-to-be Fukuda names senior LDP executives

TOKYO, Japan - Newly elected Liberal Democratic Party leader Yasuo Fukuda poses with the new lineup of top LDP executives he appointed on Sept. 24. From L to R: Masaaki Yamazaki, secretary general of the LDP House of Councillors caucus; Makoto Koga, chairman of the LDP election strategy committee; Bummei Ibuki, LDP secretary general; Fukuda; Toshihiro Nikai, chairman of the LDP General Council; Sadakazu Tanigaki, chairman of the LDP Policy Research Council; and Hidehisa Otsuji, head of the LDP House of Councillors caucus. Fukuda is expected to be elected prime minister by parliament on Sept. 25 as the LDP controls the House of Representatives.

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Gov't not to appeal ruling on overseas A-bomb victims' benefits

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hidehisa Otsuji said Oct. 7 that the Japanese government has decided not to appeal a high court ruling that upheld a lower court decision stating that atomic bomb survivors living abroad do not need to visit Japan when they apply for healthcare benefits.

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2 Koizumi Cabinet members visit Yasukuni on war-end day

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hidehisa Otsuji speaks to reporters after visiting Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

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Cabinet ministers decide on steps for asbestos problems

TOKYO, Japan - (From L to R) Health minister Hidehisa Otsuji, Environment Minister Yuriko Koike and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda attend a task force meeting in the Diet building in Tokyo on July 29. The meeting adopted a series of measures to address public concerns on asbestos-linked deaths and other health problems.

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(1)Japan faces serious blood supply shortage after mad cow warning

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hidehisa Otsuji takes to the streets in Tokyo's Shinjuku district on April 9 to urge people to donate blood. Japan is facing an unprecedented shortage of blood supplies and may see them outstripped by demand possibly next week, following a proposed stricter blood donation ban on people who visited Britain due to fears about mad cow disease.

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(2)Japan faces serious blood supply shortage after mad cow warning

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hidehisa Otsuji urge people to donate blood in Tokyo's Shinjuku district on April 9. Japan is facing an unprecedented shortage of blood supplies and may see them outstripped by demand possibly next week, following a proposed stricter blood donation ban on people who visited Britain due to fears about mad cow disease.

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Health ministry reprimands 32 officials

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hidehisa Otsuji bows his head in apology at a press conference at the health ministry on Jan. 14. The ministry reprimanded 32 officials of the ministry and the affiliated Social Insurance Agency for taking money from private companies for editing videos and books.

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(3)29 defectors from N. Korea seek asylum in Japanese school

BEIJING, China - Hiroshi Takahashi (L), principal of the Japanese school in Beijing, and Japanese Minister to China Hidehisa Horinouchi speak to reporters at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on Sept. 1 after 29 people claiming to be North Korean asylum-seekers entered the school after cutting a hole through a wire portion of fence.

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State funeral of ex-Japan PM Abe

Japanese House of Councillors President Hidehisa Otsuji is pictured after giving a eulogy at the state funeral of slain former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Nippon Budokan hall in Tokyo on Sept. 27, 2022. (Pool photo)

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Extraordinary Diet session opens in Japan

Hidehisa Otsuji, a senior Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, speaks after being elected president of the House of Councillors at the Diet in Tokyo on Aug. 3, 2022, as a three-day extraordinary parliamentary session opened the same day.

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Extraordinary Diet session opens in Japan

Hidehisa Otsuji, a senior Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, is elected president of the House of Councillors at the Diet in Tokyo on Aug. 3, 2022, as a three-day extraordinary parliamentary session opened the same day.

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Japanese lawmakers visit war-linked Yasukuni shrine

A cross-party group of lawmakers, led by its chief Hidehisa Otsuji (2nd from L), visits Tokyo's Yasukuni, a Shinto shrine seen by China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, on April 22, 2022.

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Japanese lawmakers visit war-linked Yasukuni shrine

Hidehisa Otsuji, a former vice president of the House of Councillors, speaks at a press conference after his cross-party group of lawmakers visited Tokyo's Yasukuni, a Shinto shrine seen by China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, on April 22, 2022.

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Japanese lawmakers visit war-linked Yasukuni shrine

A cross-party group of lawmakers, led by its chief Hidehisa Otsuji (2nd from L), visits Tokyo's Yasukuni, a Shinto shrine seen by China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, on April 22, 2022.

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Japanese lawmakers visit war-linked Yasukuni shrine

A cross-party group of lawmakers, led by its chief Hidehisa Otsuji (C front), visits Tokyo's Yasukuni, a Shinto shrine seen by China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, on April 22, 2022.

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Japan hands over its analysis on N. Korea abduction probe

BEIJING, China - Hidehisa Horinouchi (L in car), minister at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, leaves the North Korean Embassy there Dec. 25 after handing over to North Korea an analysis on documents and materials provided by the North on its investigation into the cases of 10 Japanese, whom the Japanese government maintains were abducted by Pyongyang. (Kyodo)

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Health ministry reprimands 32 officials

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hidehisa Otsuji bows his head in apology at a press conference at the health ministry on Jan. 14. The ministry reprimanded 32 officials of the ministry and the affiliated Social Insurance Agency for taking money from private companies for editing videos and books. (Kyodo)

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(2)Japan faces serious blood supply shortage after mad cow warni

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hidehisa Otsuji urge people to donate blood in Tokyo's Shinjuku district on April 9. Japan is facing an unprecedented shortage of blood supplies and may see them outstripped by demand possibly next week, following a proposed stricter blood donation ban on people who visited Britain due to fears about mad cow disease. (Kyodo)

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(1)Japan faces serious blood supply shortage after mad cow warni

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hidehisa Otsuji takes to the streets in Tokyo's Shinjuku district on April 9 to urge people to donate blood. Japan is facing an unprecedented shortage of blood supplies and may see them outstripped by demand possibly next week, following a proposed stricter blood donation ban on people who visited Britain due to fears about mad cow disease. (Kyodo)

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Gov't not to appeal ruling on overseas A-bomb victims' benefits

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hidehisa Otsuji said Oct. 7 that the Japanese government has decided not to appeal a high court ruling that upheld a lower court decision stating that atomic bomb survivors living abroad do not need to visit Japan when they apply for healthcare benefits. (Kyodo)

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Abe appoints top LDP executives

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (C) poses with five newly appointed senior Liberal Democratic Party executives at the party headquarters in Tokyo on Aug. 27. From left to right: Hidehisa Otsuji, head of the LDP House of Councillors caucus; Taro Aso, LDP secretary general; Abe; Toshihiro Nikai, chairman of the LDP General Council; Nobuteru Ishihara, chairman of the LDP Policy Research Council; and Asaaki Yamazaki, secretary general of the LDP House of Councillors caucus. (Kyodo)

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2 Koizumi Cabinet members visit Yasukuni on war-end day

TOKYO, Japan - Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Hidehisa Otsuji speaks to reporters after visiting Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. (Kyodo)

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Visit to war-linked Yasukuni shrine

Hidehisa Otsuji (L), head of a cross-party group of lawmakers who advocate the importance of visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, visits the Shinto shrine honoring convicted war criminals along with millions of war dead during its spring festival on April 22, 2021.

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Nonpartisan group founded in Japan to end killings of stray animals

Hidehisa Otsuji (2nd from L), a Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Councillors, speaks in the Diet building in Tokyo on Feb. 12, 2015, in front of lawmakers at a meeting called to inaugurate a nonpartisan group aimed at terminating the killing of stray dogs and cats. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Visit to war-linked Yasukuni shrine

Hidehisa Otsuji (L), head of a cross-party group of lawmakers who advocate the importance of visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, visits the Shinto shrine honoring convicted war criminals along with millions of war dead during its spring festival on April 22, 2021.

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Visit to war-linked Yasukuni shrine

Hidehisa Otsuji (L), head of a cross-party group of lawmakers who advocate the importance of visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, visits the Shinto shrine honoring convicted war criminals along with millions of war dead during its spring festival on April 22, 2021.

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Visit to war-linked Yasukuni shrine

Hidehisa Otsuji (L), head of a cross-party group of lawmakers who advocate the importance of visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, visits the Shinto shrine honoring convicted war criminals along with millions of war dead during its spring festival on April 22, 2021.

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Visit to war-linked Yasukuni shrine

Hidehisa Otsuji (L), head of a cross-party group of lawmakers who advocate the importance of visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, meets the press during his visit to the Shinto shrine honoring convicted war criminals along with millions of war dead during its spring festival on April 22, 2021.

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:Premier-to-be Fukuda names senior LDP executives

TOKYO, Japan - Newly elected Liberal Democratic Party leader Yasuo Fukuda poses with the new lineup of top LDP executives he appointed on Sept. 24. From L to R: Masaaki Yamazaki, secretary general of the LDP House of Councillors caucus; Makoto Koga, chairman of the LDP election strategy committee; Bummei Ibuki, LDP secretary general; Fukuda; Toshihiro Nikai, chairman of the LDP General Council; Sadakazu Tanigaki, chairman of the LDP Policy Research Council; and Hidehisa Otsuji, head of the LDP House of Councillors caucus. Fukuda is expected to be elected prime minister by parliament on Sept. 25 as the LDP controls the House of Representatives. (Kyodo)

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(3)29 defectors from N. Korea seek asylum in Japanese school

BEIJING, China - Hiroshi Takahashi (L), principal of the Japanese school in Beijing, and Japanese Minister to China Hidehisa Horinouchi speak to reporters at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on Sept. 1 after 29 people claiming to be North Korean asylum-seekers entered the school after cutting a hole through a wire portion of fence. (Kyodo)

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Cabinet ministers decide on steps for asbestos problems

TOKYO, Japan - (From L to R) Health minister Hidehisa Otsuji, Environment Minister Yuriko Koike and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda attend a task force meeting in the Diet building in Tokyo on July 29. The meeting adopted a series of measures to address public concerns on asbestos-linked deaths and other health problems. (Kyodo)

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Japanese lawmakers visit Yasukuni

TOKYO, Japan - (From L) Takeo Hiranuma, chairman of the small opposition Party for Future Generation as well as Liberal Democratic Party's Hidehisa Otsuji and Ichiro Aisawa lead a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Oct. 17, 2014, to pay homage during its autumn festival. (Kyodo)

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Bipartisan lawmakers visit Yasukuni

TOKYO, Japan - A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including its chief Hidehisa Otsuji, visits the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, 2014, the 69th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. Three Cabinet ministers also visited there, drawing criticism from China and South Korea. (Kyodo)

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Japan's embassy minister greets Chinese President Xi

SHANGHAI, China - Hidehisa Horinouchi (L, C), minister at the Japanese Embassy in China, shows a document to Chinese President Xi Jinping (R, C) before gathering for a group photo for participants in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia held in Shanghai, China, on May 20, 2014. Horinouchi attended the conference as an observer. (Kyodo)