Ex-Japan Foreign Min. Takeaki Matsumoto Dies at 67

Tokyo, July 30 (Jiji Press)--Former Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, at a Tokyo hospital Monday, his office said Thursday. He was 67.

Matsumoto, who was a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, retired from politics without running in the House of Representatives election in February this year due to his deteriorating health. He served nine terms as a lawmaker of the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament.

His great-great-grandfather was Hirobumi Ito, the country's first prime minister.

A native of Tokyo, Matsumoto served as a secretary to his father, Juro Matsumoto, who was director-general of the Defense Agency, now the Defense Ministry, after working at Industrial Bank of Japan, a predecessor of Mizuho Bank, one of Japan's three megabanks.

The younger Matsumoto clinched a Lower House seat for the first time in the 2000 election, in which he ran for a constituency in Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, from the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]