Early Life and Education
Born and raised in Ashiya, Hyogo, a wealthy Kobe suburb, Koike went to Kōnan Girls' Junior and Senior High School for her secondary education.
Her father, Yūjirō Koike, was a foreign trade merchant who handled oil products. He was also involved in politics, supporting Shintarō Ishihara and the Tatenokai in 1960s, and ran for a national election to no avail in 1969. He occasionally told Yuriko his opinion that it was essential for Japan to strengthen relations with Arab countries in order to ensure a stable petroleum supply lest the resource-poor Japan be thrust into war for oil again. His word encouraged her to decide to study in Egypt to master Arabic.
After attending the School of Sociology at Kwansei Gakuin University in 1971 and the American University in Cairo in 1972, Koike received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Cairo University in 1976. She married a Japanese student in Egypt when she was 21 years old, but divorced soon after.
Read more about this topic: Yuriko Koike
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