The Italian President Silvio Berlusconi’s many liaisons with women dancers and entertainers are well known, and the stuff of legend among the politicians of the country. The Japanese politicians have liaisons of the same sort, but only admit to it when confronted with evidence, and then shamefacedly. But one’s loss is another’s gain — as one of the top cabinet of the ruling party, Tokuo Yamashita, resigned after allegations of an affair, Mayumi Moriyama became the first woman to hold the post of Chief Cabinet Secretary.

On this day, August 25, in 1989, Mayumi Moriyama became the first female cabinet secretary in Japan. She was selected likely not only for her political credentials, but the smooth out the ruling party’s sexist image.

Moriyama, a native of Tokyo, graduated from the University of Tokyo, one of the nation’s top schools, and worked at the Ministry of Labor from 1950 to 1980. As a member of Liberal Democratic Party, she served in the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) before being appointed to her Cabinet post.