Sunao Sonoda

Sunao Sonoda
園田 直
Sonoda at Schiphol in July 1979
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office
18 May 1981  30 November 1981
Prime MinisterZenkō Suzuki
Preceded byMasayoshi Ito
Succeeded byYoshio Sakurauchi
In office
28 November 1977  9 November 1979
Prime Minister
Preceded byIichirō Hatoyama
Succeeded bySaburo Okita
Minister of Health and Welfare
In office
19 September 1980  18 May 1981
Prime MinisterZenkō Suzuki
Preceded byKunikichi Saitō
Succeeded byTatsuo Murayama
In office
25 November 1967  30 November 1968
Prime MinisterEisaku Satō
Preceded byHideo Bō
Succeeded byNoboru Saitō
Chief Cabinet Secretary
In office
24 December 1976  28 November 1977
Prime MinisterTakeo Fukuda
Preceded byIchitaro Ide
Succeeded byShintaro Abe
Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives
In office
20 December 1965  25 November 1967
MonarchShōwa
SpeakerKikuichirō Yamaguchi
Kentarō Ayabe
Mitsujirō Ishii
Preceded byIsaji Tanaka
Succeeded byHisao Kodaira
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
26 April 1947  2 April 1984
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byMulti-member district
ConstituencyKumamoto 2nd
Personal details
Born(1913-12-11)11 December 1913
Amakusa, Kumamoto, Empire of Japan
Died2 April 1984(1984-04-02) (aged 70)
Tokyo, Japan
Political partyLDP (1955–1984)
Other political
affiliations
DP (1947–1950)
NDP (1950–1952)
Kaishintō (1952–1954)
JDP (1954–1955)
SpouseTenkoko Sonoda
ChildrenHiroyuki Sonoda
Alma materOsaka Dental University
Military career
Allegiance Japan
Branch Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service1935–1945
RankCaptain
Battles / warsSecond Sino-Japanese War
Second World War

Sunao Sonoda (園田 直, Sonoda Sunao; 11 December 1913 – 2 April 1984) was a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who served as minister for foreign affairs and minister of health and welfare. He was called "flying foreign minister" due to his active diplomacy in increasing the role of Japan when he was in office. He was one of the significant figures in normalizing the relations between Japan and China.