Akira Yamagishi

Akira Yamagishi (山岸 章) was a Japanese trade union leader who served as the first president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation from 1989 to 1994.

Born in Osaka, Yamagishi began working in a telegram office, and joined the Japan Telecommunications Workers' Union. After many years active in the union, in 1982, he was elected as its president.

Yamagishi decided to focus on making international and national links between unions. He affiliated the union to the Postal, Telegraph and Telephone International, and served as president of the international from 1985 to 1990. In 1989, he was a leading figure in bringing together the public- and private-sector unions in Japan, forming the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), and serving as its first president.

As the most important trade union leader in Japan, Yamagishi supported the Japan Socialist Party and opposed the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. He cooperated with LDP defector Ichiro Ozawa to bring about a non-LDP and non-JCP coalition cabinet led by Morihiro Hosokawa in 1993, persuading the initially reluctant socialists to support the coalition.

In 1994 Yamagishi retired due to poor health. He died in 2016.