Date of birth: Nov. 6, 1954

Party: Democratic Party of Japan

Electoral district: Upper House; Hiroshima (second term)

Yanagida recently became chairman of the Upper House Health, Labor and Welfare Committee and is an advocate of the family child allowance and free high school tuition.

After joining the University of Tokyo in 1973, the Kagoshima native quit to work at a sushi restaurant. He later rejoined the university as a member of the engineering faculty in 1981.

After graduating in 1983, Yanagida joined Kobe Steel Ltd. and became involved in union activities. He later became a member of the Democratic Socialist Party.

He first entered the Diet as a Lower House lawmaker in 1990 at age 35, joining Shinshinto four years later. In the 1996 Lower House election, he was defeated by former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa. He won an Upper House seat in 1998 and joined the DPJ the same year.