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

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 ...

, 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 ...

in the

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

(national legislature). He is the Senior Vice Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications. A native of

Sagamihara, Kanagawa is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 723,470, with 334,812 households, and a population density of 1,220 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Sagamihara is the third-most-populous city ...

, he graduated from

Rikkyo University , also known as Saint Paul's University, is a private university, in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan. Rikkyo is one of the five MARCH (Japanese universities), MARCH universities, the group of private universities in the Kantō region, Kanto region, toge ...

and received his master's degree in economic sociology from the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. He was elected to the first of his two terms in the assembly of Kanagawa Prefecture in 1999 and then to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2005.

Early life

Born in

Sagamihara is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 723,470, with 334,812 households, and a population density of 1,220 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Sagamihara is the third-most-populous city ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

to Kanagawa Prefectural Assembly Member Kazuyuki Akama, Akama grew up in the city, graduating from Samagihara Primary, Middle and Secondary school. He then go on to attend

for four years, during which time he served as the vice-captain of the boxing club of the Athletic Association. In 1998, he reached the 4th round of the league championship, represengting Yokota Sports Gym. After graducating with a

Bachelor of Economics A Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon)Bureau of Labor StatisticsHow to Become an Economist/ref> is an academic degree, awarded to students who have completed specialised undergraduate studies in economics. Variants include the "Bachelor of Econo ...

degree, he travelled to England to study a masters in economic sociology from the

Graduate School for the next four years, while also volunteering at a facility for the elderly. After graduating and returning to Japan, he helped his father in the operation of a community workshop for people who have intellectual disabilities.

Career

Assembly member

In 1999, Akama first ran for the Kanagawa Prefectural Assembly as an independent at the age of 31, and in winning the election he became the first independent member for the Samigahara constituency in 16 years. Shortly after his election to the assembly however he joined the

. During Akama's first term as an assembly member, he published a bimonthly manga magazine called "Jiro Akama's Political Notebook that even a monkey can understand" In 2003, he was re-elected as the top candidate for the Sagamihara City district for the Assembly. During his tenure at the Assembly, Akama served as the Vice Chairman of both the Liberal Democratic Party Assembly Policy Research Committee and then of the Special Committee.

Representative

During his second term as an Assembly member, Akama decided to take part in the 2005 general election as the candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party in the 14th district of Kanagawa. He went up against the Democratic Party's acting representative Hirohisa Fujī and managed to defeat him by nearly 30,000 votes. During this first term he was a member of the House Steering Committee and the General Affairs Committee, and was devoted to developing laws that increased local autonomy in the country. During the 2009 general election, he ran for re-election in his district, receiving endorsements from the party Komeito, but was defeated by the Democratic Party candidate Kentaro Motomura by a margin of 50,000. Akama was re-elected to the seat in the following 2012 general election. On September 4, 2014, he was appointed to be one of the Parliamentary Vice Ministers for Internal Affairs and Communication during the Second Abe Cabinet reshuffle. Shortly after this, Akama went on to win a 3rd term in his constituency at the 2014 general election. On August 5, 2016, Akame was appointed as a State Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications and as a State Minister of the Cabinet Office during the 2nd reshuffle of the

Third Abe Cabinet The Third Abe cabinet governed Japan under the leadership of the prime minister, Shinzō Abe, from December 2014 to November 2017. The government was a coalition between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito (which had changed its name from ...

. In March 2017, he visited

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

as the State Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, attending the opening ceremony of a food and tourism event hosted by the

Japan–Taiwan Exchange Association The (), formerly known as Interchange Association, is an organization that List of diplomatic missions of Japan, represents the interests of Japan in Taiwan. In 2017, the current name was adopted. Its counterpart in Japan is the Taipei Ec ...

. This was the first time a state minister level official had been sent to visit Taiwan on official business since the official severing of diplomatic ties between Japan and Taiwan in 1972.

References

External links