is a former

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese politician who served as a 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 ...

for Nagasaki 2nd district from 31 August 2009 to 16 December 2012. Born in Nagasaki, Fukuda originally attended Hiroshima Shudo University to study psychology, but left after a year to travel Europe. After returning to school in 2001, she discovered that she was infected with

Hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection period, people often have mild or no symptoms. Early symptoms can include ...

, and dropped out of school to seek treatment. Fukuda discovered that she was given a blood-clotting agent while still a baby in 1980, which had infected her with the virus along with many others from the 1970s to the early 1990s. In 2004, she became a party to litigation against the government, and became a face of the lawsuit as one of the few people to announce her real name. In 2007, the Diet enacted a law providing compensation to those that were affected. By then, Fukuda had "become a poster child for the battle against all things wrong with the government and bureaucracy." A year later, Fukuda was handpicked by Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) party leader Ichirō Ozawa in a party attempt to appeal to voters who were tired of longtime Liberal Democratic Party rule. She won the election against Fumio Kyūma, who had represented Nagasaki in the House of Representatives for 30 years, 50.4% to 44.3%. Shortly before the 2012 elections, Fukuda jumped from the DPJ to the Tomorrow Party of Japan, then to the Green Wind party. After losing her seat in the election, she retired from politics to start a family with her husband, whom she married six months prior.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fukuda, Eriko 1980 births Living people Women members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Politicians from Nagasaki Prefecture 21st-century Japanese women politicians Democratic Party of Japan politicians Tomorrow Party of Japan politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2009–2012