is a Finnish-born Japanese politician. He is the first

foreign-born Japanese A is a Japanese person of foreign descent or heritage, who was born outside Japan and later acquired Japanese citizenship. This category encompasses persons of both Japanese and non-Japanese descent. The former subcategory is considered because ...

of European origin to serve as a member of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...

. He is a member of the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic ...

, where he served as Director General of the International Department. He served in the

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or ...

from 2001 to 2013.

Biography

Tsurunen was born Martti Turunen in the village of Höntönvaara in Lieksa,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

, and grew up in nearby Jaakonvaara. Near the end of

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

, Tsurunen (then four years old) and his family were among the few survivors of a Soviet partisan attack on the village. In 1967, at the age of 27, Tsurunen traveled to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

as a lay missionary of the

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

, accompanied by his first wife, who was also a Finn; they later divorced. Having decided to become Japanese, he gained his Japanese citizenship in 1979. He moved to Yugawaramachi in

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanag ...

in 1981.

Political career

He first ran for city council in 1992 in Yugawaramachi and won a seat, coming in fourth place with 1,051 votes. He ran for a seat in the Upper House for Kanagawa without party backing in 1995. He received 339,484 votes, coming in fourth (the top three candidates were elected), losing a seat to the Socialist candidate who won 371,889 votes. He ran again in 1998 and took 502,712, just 8,000 short of winning a seat, telling voters "Please vote for me and send the first Japanese citizen with blue eyes to the upper house" and "Let's change Japan from an economic power into a citizen-friendly nation, where you don't need to worry about old age and pollution". He also proposed "sexual quotas for legislative bodies, so that from 40% to 60% of parliament and local assemblies would be female". In 2000, he ran as a candidate of the

for a seat in the Lower House, and again in 2001 for a seat in the Upper House, both unsuccessfully. In 2001, he garnered 159,920 votes, 14,036 short of what he needed to win a seat. However, in 2002, an incumbent, Kyosen Ohashi, resigned from the house and he won a seat by "kuriage" replacement, by which he took the seat because he had the largest number of votes after the winner. Tony Laszlo,
Former Finn goes to the Diet
, ''

Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'', 8 March 2002 He was directly reelected in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

with 242,742 votes, the 6th-highest in his party, but lost his seat in the 2013 election after garnering only 82,858 votes (finishing in 12th place).

References

External links

*
Tsurunen.net

Tsurunen.net

*
Tsurunen's web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsurunen, Marutei 1940 births Living people People from Lieksa Finnish Lutheran missionaries Lutheran missionaries in Japan Japanese Lutherans Japanese people of Finnish descent Naturalized citizens of Japan Members of the House of Councillors (Japan) Democratic Party of Japan politicians Finnish emigrants to Japan Japanese municipal councilors Politicians from Kanagawa Prefecture Yugawara, Kanagawa

Biography

Political career

See also

References

External links