He was the Minister of State for Financial Services from January 2001 to September 2002, when he stepped down due to a disagreement with the minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy, Heizō Takenaka.
Takenaka Corporation | Takenaka | Heizō Takenaka | Heizo Takenaka |
Watanabe opposed the appointment of Haruhiko Kuroda as president of the Bank of Japan, saying that he would prefer to see a president come from a background other than the Ministry of Finance; he instead supported Heizo Takenaka for the position.