Kohei Otsuka, a Japanese politician and former leader of the Democratic Party for the People and the Democratic Party, died on March 2, 2026.
A native of Nagoya, Aichi, he attended Waseda University and received a Ph.D. in fiscal and monetary policies and reforms.
He worked at the Bank of Japan from 1983 to 2000 before being elected to the House of Councillors in 2001. He later succeeded Seiji Maehara as president of the Democratic Party in 2017 and helped lead the party’s merger with Kibō no Tō in 2018, becoming co-leader of the new Democratic Party for the People.
Kohei Otsuka (大塚 耕平, Ōtsuka Kōhei; 5 October 1959 – 2 March 2026) was a Japanese politician. He was a leader of the Democratic Party for the People (DPP) and the Democratic Party (DP). A native of Nagoya, Aichi, he attended Waseda University and received a Ph.D. in fiscal and monetary policies and reforms. Afterwards, he worked at the Bank of Japan from 1983 to 2000 before being elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 2001.