Chikage Ogi, Japan's 1st Female Upper House Head, Dies at 89

Tokyo, March 13 (Jiji Press)--Chikage Ogi, who served as the first female president of Japan's House of Councillors, died of esophagogastric junction cancer at a Tokyo hospital on Thursday. She was 89.

A native of the western Japan city of Kobe, Ogi, whose real name was Hiroko Hayashi, started her career in the show business as a member of Takarazuka Revue, a famed all-female musical troupe, and appeared in many stage roles, movies and television dramas. She also hosted TV shows.

She was first elected to the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, in 1977 on the ticket of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Ogi moved to the now-defunct New Frontier Party in 1994. After joining other parties, she took the helm of the now-defunct New Conservative Party when it was launched in 2000.

She obtained her first ministerial post as construction minister in the second cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and became the first transport minister through the reorganization of government ministries and agencies in 2001

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]