Alex Saito (斎藤アレックス, ''Saitō Arekkusu'', born June 30, 1985) is a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

politician who is a member of the

House of Representatives of Japan The is the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors is the upper house. The composition of the House is established by and of the Constitution of Japan. The House of Representatives has 465 members, elected for a fo ...

since 2021, representing the

Kinki proportional representation block Kinki Proportional Representation Block is one of the 11 proportional representation blocks in the House of Representatives in Japan. Summary Kinki is usually defined as comprising the following regions: Osaka Prefecture, Hyōgo Prefecture, Kyo ...

Early life

Saito was born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

on 30 June 1985 to a Spanish father and a Japanese mother. He moved to Japan in 1990, growing up in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

and Moriguchi in

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara ...

. In 1999, due to economic downturn caused by the

Lost Decades The Lost Decades are a lengthy period of economic stagnation in Japan precipitated by the asset price bubble's collapse beginning in 1990. The singular term originally referred to the 1990s, but the 2000s (Lost 20 Years, ) and the 2010s (Lost ...

, his father's restaurant in Osaka closed and he returned to Spain, leaving Saito with a single-parent household. After observing his mother's hardships as a single parent amidst Japan's economic stagnation, Saito decided to pursue a career in politics.

Political career

After graduating from the Faculty of Economics at

Doshisha University , also referred to as , is a private university in Kyoto, Japan. Established in 1875, it is one of Japan's oldest private institutions of higher learning, and has approximately 30,000 students enrolled on four campuses in Kyoto. It is one of Japa ...

, Saito worked at a

security company A private security company is a business entity which provides armed or unarmed security services and expertise to clients in the private or public sectors. Overview Private security companies are defined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic ...

before entering the Matsushita School of Government and Management in 2013, where he interned with

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Chuck Fleischman and graduated in 2017. On April of the same year, Saito began serving as a secretary to

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 ...

member

Seiji Maehara is a Japanese politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives of Japan since 1993. He founded and led the political party, Free Education for All, before its merger into Nippon Ishin no Kai on 3 October 2024. Maehara was the ...

. In October 2018, the Democratic Party for the People announced that it would field Saito as a candidate in a constituency in

Kyoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Kyoto Prefecture has a population of 2,561,358 () and has a geographic area of . Kyoto Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the northeast, Shiga Prefecture ...

for the

2019 Japanese House of Councillors election House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on 21 July 2019 to elect 124 of the 245 members of the upper house of the National Diet for a term of six years. 74 members were elected by single non-transferable vote (SNTV)/First-past-the-post ...

. However, the

Constitutional Democratic Party The Constitutional Democratic Party (, K-D), also called Constitutional Democrats and formally the Party of People's Freedom (), was a political party in the Russian Empire that promoted Western constitutional monarchy—among other policies� ...

also decided to field a candidate in the same constituency. In order to avoid splitting the votes between the two parties, Saito withdrew his candidacy in April 2019. In the

2021 Japanese general election General elections were held in Japan on 31 October 2021, as required by the Constitution of Japan, constitution. Voting took place in all List of districts of the House of Representatives of Japan, constituencies in order to elect List of member ...

, Saito ran as a candidate for the DPFP. Although he lost to Toshitaka Ooka of the

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 ...

in the Shiga 1st district election, he was elected through the Kinki proportional representation block. On 30 November 2023, Saito alongside 4 other members split from the DPFP to become a founding member of Free Education for All, in which he was appointed as Chairman of Political Affairs Research. In October 2024, it was announced that he had joined

Nippon Ishin no Kai The is a conservative and centre-right to right-wing populist political party in Japan. Formed as Initiatives from Osaka in October 2015 from a split in the old Japan Innovation Party, the party became the third-biggest opposition party in t ...

and would stand for the party in the 2024 election in the

Shiga 1st district Shiga 1st district (滋賀県第1区, ''Shiga-ken dai-ikku'' or simply 滋賀1区, ''Shiga-ikku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the national Diet of Japan. It is located in Western Shiga and ...

. In this instance, he won the rematch defeating the LDP's Ooka to win the district.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saito, Alex Living people Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2021–2024 Doshisha University alumni 1985 births Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2024– Japanese people of Spanish descent