Yukio Ozaki

was a Japanese politician of liberal signature, born in modern-day Sagamihara, Kanagawa. Ozaki served in the House of Representatives of the Japanese Diet for 63 years (1890–1953). He is still revered in Japan as the "God of constitutional politics" and the "father of the Japanese Constitution". Biography Ozaki was one of three children of Ozaki Yukimasa and his wife Sadako, who lived in the village of Matano, in the county of Tsukui, in Kanagawa Prefecture, in the Sagami hills, 35 miles west of Edo (present-day Tokyo). The three Ozaki children were born there—Yukio in 1858, Yukitaka in 1865 and Yukitake in 1866—just as Japan was opening itself up to the western world. Ozaki began his career as a student at Keio Gijuku, before becoming chief editor of the Niigata Shimbun (Niigata Newspaper) at the age of 20. At 22 he returned to Tokyo and was given an appointment at the Bureau of Statistics. He was elected to the Tokyo Prefectural Assembly in 1885, before being expelled from Tokyo in 1887 for 3 years in accordance with the newly-passed Safety Preservation Law.