was a Japanese conservative politician in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), who served as Minister of Finance from 24 September 2008 to 17 February 2009. He previously held the posts of Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the cabinet of Junichiro Koizumi. He was regarded as one of Japan's most attractive public figures. On 4 October 2009, he was found dead in his Tokyo apartment. The cause of his death is yet to be determined; although no suicide note was found, there was also no indication of foul play. Early life and education Nakagawa was born in Tokyo on 19 July 1953 and attended Azabu High School, graduated from the law faculty of the University of Tokyo and entered the Industrial Bank of Japan in 1978. His father, Ichiro Nakagawa, was a prominent Hokkaidō politician who committed suicide in 1983. The younger Nakagawa was elected to the Japanese House of Representatives in the same year. Political career In 1998, Nakagawa became Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries under Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi, and in 2003, he became Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in the cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He served as Agriculture Minister from October 2005 to September 2006, when incoming prime minister Shinzō Abe appointed Nakagawa as chairman of the Policy Research Council of the LDP. In December 2006, Kyodo News Agency quoted Nakagawa as having said the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were "truly unforgivable on humanitarian grounds" and reported the politician's concerns over the possession of nuclear weapons by North Korea. Nakagawa's views were close to those of Abe. In particular, both support nationalism in history education, a hard-line stance regarding North Korea and constitutional amendments. Abe has made efforts to relink ties with neighbouring China, while Nakagawa officially voiced his concern over the country's growing military expenditure, claiming that, were the situation in Taiwan to deteriorate, Japan would become, by 2020, a Chinese colony. Despite that most of the mainstream conservative LDP politicians are usually known for their persistent pro-Americanism, Nakagawa was especially known for his pro-Taiwanism in Japan. On 6 January 2007, in an interview with a reporter from the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, Nakagawa stated "Women have their proper place: they should be womanly ... They have their own abilities and these should be fully exercised, for example in flower arranging, sewing,