bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

As a model turned beauty queen and television host, Renho has a lot of stories to tell as a rising Japanese political star. But in China, she is making a buzz as the first Japanese cabinet member to have Chinese blood. 
Renho, 42, was named minister for administrative reform yesterday as Japan's new prime minister, Naoto Kan, unveiled his cabinet.
Days before the announcement, Renho, who goes by her first name, was already in the news  in China, thanks to her Taiwanese origins. The daughter of a Taiwanese businessman and a Japanese beauty queen, Renho inherited their astuteness and good looks. Some commentators have even dubbed her Japan's Hillary Clinton  for her political ambition and credentials.
Born in Japan and later naturalised as a citizen in 1985, Renho made her foray into show business by modelling for famous brands while studying law at university. To support her studies, she reportedly enrolled in a beauty pageant in 1988 and won the championship.
Upon graduation, Renho joined TV Asahi, first as the presenter of an entertainment show, but later became one of the most popular news anchors.
Just when her TV career was taking off, Renho surprised many by quitting her job in 1995 to study Chinese at Peking University.
'The TV presenters in Japan are different from those in the Untied States, they don't have any authority in editing their scripts and they seldom go out for interviews,' she told China's First Financial Daily in an interview last year. 
'As a journalist, you can't produce outstanding news if you don't go to the scene. That's why I decided to leave TV Asahi to look for more space of my own.  And of course, the first thing that crossed my mind was my roots. So I went to study Chinese at Peking University.'
In 2004, Renho began her political career by being elected  to the Upper House. It was reported that  giving birth to a pair of twins in 1997 triggered her political ambition because she started to worry about her children's education and believed that such an issue could only be resolved through political means.
Renho's roots in China have not only prompted her to give her  children Chinese names - Cui Lan for the daughter and Lin for the son - but they have also influenced her political views. 
She has said that she  will not visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, where Japan's war dead, including war criminals, are honoured. She is reported to be a relative of Mark Chen Tangshan,  who served as Taiwanese foreign minister under the island's former president, Chen Shui-bian, and met Chen during a visit to Taiwan in 2004.



From catwalk to cabinet for first Chinese minister