Former Rengo Chief Tsuyoshi Takagi Dies at 80

Tokyo, Sept. 9 (Jiji Press)--Tsuyoshi Takagi, former president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, the umbrella organization of labor unions in the country, died on Sept. 2, people familiar with the matter said Monday. He was 80.

When Takagi was president of the confederation, better known as Rengo, for four years from October 2005, he built a close relationship with Ichiro Ozawa, then leader of the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan.

When the DPJ won a landslide victory in the 2009 election for the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of parliament, Takagi was regarded as one of those who helped the DPJ to oust the Liberal Democratic Party from power.

After stepping down as Rengo president, Takagi served in the National Public Safety Commission for five years after being appointed to the agency by then Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of the DPJ in December 2009

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