Chikako Asō

Asō is on the board of directors of Aso Cement, part of Aso Group, an Asō family-run conglomerate with divisions in mining, cement, medical care, theater, education, and the environmant.^[1][2][3][4] During World War II, Aso Mining used Koreans and prisoners of war (POWs) as slave labor under brutal conditions. After decades of seeking an apology, Asō's husband, Tarō Asō, finally admitted POWs had been used in the mines on December 18, 2008, but he refused to apologize.^[5][6][7]

Tarō was often on business in Tokyo, so Asō became the link between him and his constituency back in Fukuoka Prefecture on Kyushu Island. She spent three years learning the local dialect. She often campaigned for him in his hometown of Iizuka,^[8] where she is considered "more popular than Aso himself".^[9]

Asō was born May 30, 1950 in Tokyo to Zenkō Suzuki and Sachi Hagiwara.^[10][11] Suzuki was serving in the House of Representatives at the time and representing Iwate Prefecture's 1st district, which is where he was from.^[12][b] He later served as Japan's Prime Minister from July 17, 1980, to November 27, 1982.^[7] Her younger brother, Shun'ichi Suzuki is a politician.^[11] She graduated from the Home Economics Faculty of Japan Women's University.^[9]

Asō met her future husband, Tarō Asō,^[10] was invited to dinner with her family by her father Zenkō Suzuki while he was Prime Minister. Tarō was impressed with Chikako because she said he did not have to eat sea cucumber since he genuinely did not like it.^[8][c] They married on November 3, 1983.^[13][14] Tarō served as Prime Minister of Japan from September 24, 2008, to September 16, 2009.^[15] Tarō is Roman Catholic and he and Chikako and met Pope Benedict XVI.^{[10][16][17][d]} Her husband is the brother of Princess Tomohito of Mikasa.^[18]

Tarō and Chikako have two children: Masahiro (麻生 将豊) (b. December 29, 1984) and Ayako (麻生 彩子) (b. April 27, 1987). Masahiro is the CEO of Aso Corporation, the holding company of Aso Group and the chairman of Junior Chamber International Japan, a youth leadership organization.^[19][20] Asō enjoys cooking and gardening, especially growing roses.^[9]