Chikage Ogi, an actor-turned-lawmaker who became the first female chief of Japan's House of Councillors, has died. She was 89.
Ogi, whose real name was Hiroko Hayashi, died on March 9 at a hospital in Tokyo after suffering gastroesophageal junction cancer, entertainment conglomerate Shochiku Co. said Monday.
Her late husband was the Kabuki actor Sakata Tojuro, real name Kotaro Hayashi, who had been designated by the government as a living national treasure.
Ogi, a Kobe native, performed in the all-female Takarazuka Revue from 1954 to 1957 and became an upper house lawmaker of the Liberal Democratic Party in 1977 after working as a TV personality.
She became president of the upper house in July 2004 after taking key posts such as minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, and retired from politics in 2007.
