was a Japanese politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party."Profile of Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura"
Foreign Ministry website. He was Chief Cabinet Secretary in the government of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda from 2007 to 2008 and twice Minister for Foreign Affairs, in the cabinets of Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzō Abe. He resigned as the Speaker of the House of Representatives on 21 April 2015 after suffering from a stroke.

Early life and education

Machimura was born on 17 October 1944. His father was Kingo Machimura the Governor of Hokkaido (1959–1971) and his grandfather was Kinya Machimura one of the founders of Hokkaido's dairy industry. Machimura attended the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

and

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

in the United States.

Career

Machimura was elected to his first term in the House of Representatives in the December 1983 election, and he was re-elected in each election since. He became Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture on 11 September 1997, as part of Prime Minister

Ryutaro Hashimoto was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1996 to 1998. Born in Okayama Prefecture, Hashimoto graduated from Keio University in 1960 and entered the National Diet in 1963. He rose through the ...

's second cabinet, and became State Secretary for Foreign Affairs on 31 July 1998, in Keizō Obuchi's first cabinet. In March 2000, he became Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, serving under Obuchi and his successor, Yoshirō Mori. On 5 December 2000, he became Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture and Director-General of the Science and Technology Agency, before becoming Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology on 6 January 2001. He was the Minister for Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi from 27 September 2004 to 31 October 2005. His goals included signing a treaty with

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

relations with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

form leader resolving a border dispute, and investigating the whereabouts of Japanese hostages who were kidnapped by

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

n agents during the 1970s and 1980s. He was replaced by Tarō Asō in the cabinet reshuffle that followed the 11 September 2005 election. He was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs again by Prime Minister Shinzō Abe on 27 August 2007. In 2006, Machimura became chairman of the ''Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai'', the LDP's largest faction. As such, on 14 September 2007, he backed Yasuo Fukuda's bid to become Abe's successor, following Abe's resignation on 12 September.Keiichi Yamamura and Sachiko Sakamaki
"Fukuda Challenges Aso in Race to Be Prime Minister"
Bloomberg, 14 September 2007. Since 2007, Machimura had co-chaired his faction alongside Hidenao Nakagawa and Shūzen Tanigawa. In Fukuda's government, sworn in on 16 September 2007, Machimura became Chief Cabinet Secretary and State Minister in charge of abduction issues. He was replaced by Takeo Kawamura in the cabinet of prime minister Taro Aso, which was appointed on 24 September 2008. He was the vice president of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union.

Personal life

On 18 December 2007, Machimura said at an official press conference that he believed in the existence of UFOs. On 1 June 2015, he died after a cerebral infarction at a hospital in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Honours

* Junior Second Rank (1 June 2015; posthumous)

References

External links