is a former 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 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 ...

in the Diet (national legislature).

Overview

A native of

Kashima, Saga 270px, Kashima City Hall is a city located in the southern part of Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 27,360 in 10949 households, and a population density of 240 persons per km2. The total ...

and a graduate of 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 ...

, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1996 after working for the

Japan Railways Group The Japan Railways Group, commonly known as the or simply JR, is a network of railway companies in Japan formed after the Corporate spin-off, division and privatization of the government-owned Japanese National Railways (JNR) on April 1, 1987. ...

Career

*Japanese National Railways (employee of Kyusyu Railway Co. after the privatization) *State Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries *Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs *Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism *Chairman, Committee on Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism *Chairman, Special Committee on Audit and Oversight of Administration *Chairman, Regional Government Promotion Headquarters *Minister of reconstruction for disaster-hit regions

Yasukuni visits and right wing affiliations

Shinzo Abe and Masahiro Imamura cropped Hiroaki Hiruta Shinzo Abe and Masahiro Imamura 20170408

Masahiro Imamura and Shinzo Abe cropped Masahiro Imamura Shinzo Abe and Hiroaki Nagasawa 20170408

On August 11, 2016, one week after joining Prime Minister

Shinzō 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 ( LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving pri ...

's cabinet as reconstruction minister for disaster-hit regions, Masahiro Imamura visited the controversial

Yasukuni shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Emperor Meiji in June 1869 and commemorates those who died in service of Empire of Japan, Japan, from the Boshin War of 1868–1869, to the two Sino-Japanese Wars, First Sino-Japane ...

. In late 2016, hours after Abe and Defense Minister Tomomi Inada met President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and Abe expressed 'everlasting condolences' for the casualties of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, Imamura again visited the shrine. The visit garnered "a sharp rebuke from Beijing". Imamura said his visit had “nothing to do with” Abe’s trip and the timing was “a coincidence”, saying he "wished to express gratitude and prayed for Japan’s peace and prosperity". Imamura is a member of key

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

Diet groups: * Nippon Kaigi (revisionist lobby) *Pro-Yasukuni Alliance *Conference of young parliamentarians supporting the idea that the

Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Emperor Meiji in June 1869 and commemorates those who died in service of Empire of Japan, Japan, from the Boshin War of 1868–1869, to the two Sino-Japanese Wars, First Sino-Japane ...

is a true national interest and desire for peace *Japan Rebirth (Sosei Nippon) *Shinto Seiji Renmei Kokkai Giin Kondankai (Sinseiren, Shinto Political League - Shinto fundamentalism) Ahead of the 2012 elections, Imamura positioned himself in favor of: *changing the Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan, which prohibits the exercise of the right of collective self-defense *considering the nuclear armament of Japan *re-operating the nuclear power plants that meet the new standards of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Masahiro Imamura, who holds rather radical positions about nuclear issues, was until April 26, 2017 the minister in charge of coping with the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. He was forced to step down over a remark that he had made the previous day suggesting that it had been better that the 2011 earthquake and tsunami had hit the Tohoku region than the Tokyo region. He has been replaced by Masayoshi Yoshino who had been chairman of the special House of Representatives committee on Tohoku reconstruction.

References

External links