was a Japanese

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 politician and cabinet member

Cabinet of Japan

The of Japan is the executive branch of the government of Japan. It consists of the Prime Minister and up to fourteen other members, called Ministers of State. The Prime Minister is designated by the Diet, and the remaining ministers are appointed and dismissed by the Prime Minister...

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Inagaki was elected to his first term in the Japanese House of Representatives in 1977. He joined the cabinet under former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto

Ryutaro Hashimoto

was a Japanese politician who served as the 82nd and 83rd Prime Minister of Japan from January 11, 1996 to July 30, 1998. He was the leader of one of the largest factions within the ruling LDP through most of the 1990s and remained a powerful back-room player in Japanese politics until scandal...

 during the 1990s, where he served as the head of the Hokkaidō

Hokkaido

, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...

 and Okinawa development agencies.

Inagaki largely retired from politics after he was defeated for re-election in 2000. He was arrested in 2004 and charged with violating an investment law concerning his company for which he was convicted. He was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for five years, beginning in 2005.

Jitsuo Inagaki died at his home in Tokyo of a natural illness at the age of 80.