is a Japanese

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

of the

Komeito Party , formerly New Komeito (NKP) and commonly referred to as simply Komei, is a political party in Japan founded by the leader of Soka Gakkai, Daisaku Ikeda, in 1964. It is generally considered centrist and socially conservative. Since 2012, it ha ...

and a former member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

in the

National Diet , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

. Ota represented three districts within the

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 ...

metropolis since he first entered the Diet in 1993. He served as chief representative of the Komeito Party from 2006 until the general election in September 2009, at which time he lost his seat in the Diet. Upon his return to the House in December 2012, Ota was appointed as the

Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism The is a member of the Cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The minister is also a statutory member of the National Security Council (Japan), National Security Coun ...

, a post he held until October 2015. Ota has been involved with Komeito and the

Soka Gakkai is a Japanese new religions, Japanese new religion led by Minoru Harada since December 2023 based on the teachings of the 13th-century Buddhist priest Nichiren. It claims the largest membership among Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Buddhist group ...

movement since graduation from university and was called "Komeito's prince" earlier in his career.

Early life and career

Ota was born in

Shinshiro is a city located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 44,581 in 17,691 households, and a population density of 89.3 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Shinshiro is located in east-centr ...

Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...

and grew up in the neighbouring city of

Toyohashi is a Cities of Japan, city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 377,453 in 160,516 households and a population density of 1,400 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . By area, Toyohashi was Aichi Prefec ...

, graduating from Seiryo Junior High School and within the city. Ota attended

Kyoto University , or , is a National university, national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan. The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen gra ...

and received a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded to a college graduate majoring in an engineering discipline at a higher education institution. In the United Kingdom, a Ba ...

degree in

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

in 1968 and a

Master of Engineering A Master of Engineering (abbreviated MEng, ME, M.E. or M.Eng.) is a Professional degree, professional master's degree in the field of engineering. International variations Australia In Australia, the Master of Engineering degree is a research ...

degree in 1971. Whilst studying at Kyoto University Ota was captain of the school's

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

club. In April 1971 Ota was employed in the newspaper office of the

, a political party affiliated with the

. As a journalist for the ''Komei Shimbun'', Ota was responsible for reporting political affairs in the

and was also an editorial writer. Ota stayed with the paper for 18 months, after which he continued to progress through the elite course of the Soka Gakkai organization, serving as head of their youth wing in 1982 and earning the nickname "the Prince of Komeito".

Political career

Early career (1990–2003)

Ota first contested for a seat in the

at the 1990 general election. He contested the former

Tokyo 8th district Tokyo 8th district (東京都第8区, ''Tōkyō-to dai-hachiku'' or simply 東京8区, ''Tōkyō-hachiku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan. It is located in western part of former To ...

, finishing fourth in the race for three seats, 5,199 votes behind the

Japanese Communist Party The is a communist party in Japan. Founded in 1922, it is the oldest political party in the country. It has 250,000 members as of January 2024, making it one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party is chaired ...

candidate . At the 1993 general election the 8th district's representation was reduced to two members and Ota switched to the three-member , seeking to replace the retiring Komeito member . He received 18.4% of the vote (75358 votes), the most out of the ten candidates in the race. 1994 electoral reform saw the dissolution of Tokyo's eleven multi-member districts, which were replaced with 25 single-member districts plus a 19-member proportional representation (PR) block representing the entire metropolis. The majority of the area covered by the 9th district that Ota represented became the Tokyo 11th district, whilst the remaining portion became part of the Tokyo 12th district. In December 1994 the Komeito Party dissolved and Ota joined the New Frontier Party, becoming a deputy secretary-general of the party in the same year. Ota contested the first election under the new system of districts in August 1996, retaining his seat in the Diet as one of 5 successful New Frontier candidates in the Tokyo PR block, where the party received 24.6% of the vote. In 1998 the New Frontier Party dissolved and Komeito reformed; Ota was chosen as the reformed party's secretary-general. In the June 2000 general election Ota was Komeito's number one candidate in the Tokyo PR block and the party received 12.7% of the vote. After the election he was selected as chairman of the party's Diet Affairs Committee.

Komeito party leadership and loss (2003–2009)

At the subsequent November 2003 general election Ota switched from the Tokyo PR block to the single-member Tokyo 12th district, which represents Kita Ward and part of Adachi Ward. The district had been represented since its inception by

Liberal Democratic Party Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

(JDP) member , who swapped with Ota to run as a candidate in the Tokyo PR block. Within Kita Ward, Ota was outvoted by

Democratic Party of Japan The was a Centrism, centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to Centre-left politics, centre-left, Liberalism, liberal or Social liberalism, social-liberal List of political parties in Japan, ...

(DPJ) candidate Yukihisa Fujita 45% to 41%, with the third candidate, Mitsuo Yamakishi of the

receiving the remaining 14%. However, in Adachi Ward Ota received 52% of the vote, which was enough for him to defeat Fujita 44.1% to 42.4%. The small margin of defeat allowed Fujita to claim one of the DPJ's seats in the Tokyo PR block. At the next election in September 2005, Yashiro returned to contest the Tokyo 12th district as an independent candidate after voting against the LDP-Komeito coalition's postal reform bills and resigning from the LDP in protest in July. In a four-candidate contest, Ota retained the seat with 43.2% of the vote, suffering only a slight decrease from 2003. Fujita's vote fell to just 29.1% as Yashiro and the Communist Party candidate Ken Nonoyama took 10.3% and 17.4% respectively. The large margin between Ota and Fujita meant the latter failed to retain his seat in the Tokyo PR block. In September 2006

Takenori Kanzaki is a Japanese politician who served in the House of Representatives as a member of the Komeito Party. He was born in Tianjin, China during the time part of China was under Japanese occupation. A graduate of the University of Tokyo, he was elected ...

resigned as leader of Komeito, having led the party since its reformation in 1998. In the ensuing party vote Ota was elected unopposed to replace him. Whilst at the helm of the party, Komeito suffered a decline in popularity as the junior coalition partner of the ailing LDP, who had had six different prime ministers during the ten-year period of coalition. This culminated in the coalition suffering a major defeat in the 2009 general election and power transferring to the

. Komeito lost ten seats in the election, including Ota's, who was defeated by

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers (Japan), House of Peers. If the t ...

member Ai Aoki. Ota was standing as a candidate in his Tokyo 12th district, but was not named as a PR block candidate in the case of being defeated, meaning he was left without a seat in the House after five terms and 16 years. He was replaced as party leader by

Natsuo Yamaguchi is a Japanese politician who served as the chief representative of Komeito from 2009 to 2024. He is a member of the House of Councillors since 2001 and previously served in the House of Representatives from 1990 to 1996. Early life A native of ...

on 8 September 2009.

Return to Diet (2012–2021)

Ota returned to the Diet at the 2012 general election, which also returned the LDP-Komeito coalition to power in a landslide victory over the DPJ. Ota defeated Aoki, who had defected from the DPJ to the

Tomorrow Party The el-Ghad Party ( ', ; "The Tomorrow Party") is a political party in Egypt that was granted license in October 2004. El-Ghad is a centrist Liberalism, liberal secular political party pressing for widening the scope of political participati ...

, by more than double, claiming 51.4% of the vote to Aoki's 25.4%, although Aoki managed to win a PR block seat. Following the election Ota became a member of the cabinet for the first time, with Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...

giving him the position of

. Ota comfortably retained his seat at the 2014 general election, receiving more votes than Aoki and Communist Party candidate Saori Ikeuchi combined. He maintained his role in the ministry until be was replaced by fellow Komeito member

Keiichi Ishii is a Japanese politician who served as the chief representative of Komeito in 2024. He previously served as secretary general of the party from 2020 to 2024, and as Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism under Prime Minister Shi ...

in October 2015.

Political views

Ota is a prominent voice within the government for better preparation against large-scale earthquakes. He has been a proponent of quake-proofing schools since entering politics in 1993 and became the chairman of Komeito's committee on disasters in 2004. His appointment to the land, infrastructure, transport and tourism portfolio in 2012 was due to Prime Minister

agreeing with his views on the necessity for disaster prevention to be incorporated into building projects. Ota is said to be a member of the ''Alliance for Promoting the Assessment of a New Constitution,'' which promotes constitutional revision.

References

External links