Some people have a strong personality and traits that are not recognized for a long time, even by those who are close to them. One such person is Kaoru Yosano, a 75-year-old former Lower House member.
He has long been known for his profound knowledge of policy matters. Since he is fond of playing mahjong and golf, he was regarded as a happy-go-lucky kind of man and was thought to have climbed up the political ladder primarily because of his fame as a grandson of two prominent poet/authors in Japan's modern literary history — Tekkan Yosano (1873-1935) and his wife Akiko (1878-1942).
He stirred up a lot of surprise when he revealed in an article — contributed to the June 2012 issue of the monthly Bungei Shunju — that shortly after his first election to the Diet in 1976, he had a malignant lymph tumor. He started battling the cancer, which subsequently spread to various parts of his body. His heroic fight had not been known even among close political associates, bureaucrats and journalists. It must have taken much mental and spiritual strength for him to combat the deadly disease as he commuted to a hospital without letting anybody know about it.