A prominent leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party suddenly died this week less than a month after stepping down from a position of power due to health reasons.

Former Lower House Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda, who had served in elected office and other appointed positions since at least 1990, passed away on Friday at the age of 79, according to The Asahi Shimbun media outlet.

He was elected as Speaker in November 2021 and held that powerful position until October of this year when he resigned in order to address his declining health, though he had retained his House seat and insisted that he planned to run for another term in the next election.

Multiple health issues

According to Nikkei Asia, the exact cause of Hosoda's death at a hospital in Tokyo on Friday has not yet been publicly disclosed, though the outlet noted that some of the long-serving politician's health problems were already known.

In July, Hosoda was briefly hospitalized after suffering heatstroke and then ended up in the hospital again in September to "receive preventive treatment for an issue linked to blood vessels in his brain."

Less than a month later, when he resigned from his position as Lower House Speaker, Hosoda revealed in a press conference that he had been dealing with an enlarged prostate and the lingering effects of a stroke that, in his view, prevented him from carrying out his duties as the Speaker but did not impact his ability to continue serving as a lawmaker in Japan's legislature that is known as the National Diet.

Following news of his death, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters of Hosoda, "I'd like to express my respect for his efforts up to today," and further expressed his condolences to the politician's grieving family.

It was further revealed that a special election will be held in April to fill the late representative's seat in the Diet.

Long career in politics

According to The Japan Times, Hosoda was born in Matsue in the Shimane Prefecture and graduated from the law school at the University of Tokyo, after which he became a bureaucrat in what is now known as the Ministry of Trade, Economy and Industry before he entered politics in 1990 when he was elected to fill the seat held just previously by his father representing Shimane's first district.

While serving 11 terms in the legislature, he also served brief stints as a Cabinet secretary and as secretary-general of the LDP from 2008-2009. He also took on other top leadership roles in the LDP until he was elected to serve as Lower House Speaker in 2021.

However, while generally respected, Hosoda also faced some late-breaking scandals in his lengthy career, per the Times, including sexual harassment allegations and questionable ties to Japan's Unification Church, which is more formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

Scandals dismissed

With regard to the sexual harassment allegations involving female reporters and LDP members, Nikkei noted that Hosoda had dismissed those claims as "just rumors" since no individuals had actually come forward to make public accusations.

As for his purported connections to the Unification Church, that became an issue after the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated -- ostensibly over his own connections to the church -- and led to calls for his resignation.

Hosoda acknowledged that he had previously delivered remarks at a couple of ceremonies and gatherings but insisted that he was not a member and had no "special connections" to the religious group, and refused to acquiesce to the demands for him to resign.