was a Japanese 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 ...

. He was a member 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 ...

(LDP) in the Koga faction. He was the cousin of Kiyoko Fukuda, who married

Prime Minister of Japan The is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its ministers of state. The prime minister also serves as the commander-in-chief of the Japan Self-Defense Force ...

Yasuo Fukuda is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2007 to 2008. He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving in that role from 2000 to 2004 under Prime Ministers Yoshirō Mori an ...

Life and career

Before entering politics, Ota was an economics professor. He then served as chief of the Management and Coordination Agency. Ota entered politics in 1980 with the help of his father-in-law, the governor of Fukuoka. He has since been involved mainly in economic policy. Under

Noboru Takeshita was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1987 to 1989. Born in Shimane Prefecture, Takeshita attended Waseda University and was drafted into the army during the Pacific War. He was first elected to the National Diet ...

in the late 1980s, he advocated the introduction of the

consumption tax A consumption tax is a tax levied on consumption spending on goods and services. The tax base of such a tax is the money spent on Consumption (economics), consumption. Consumption taxes are usually indirect, such as a sales tax or a value-added ta ...

. Ota also participated in changes in the Commercial Law in the late 1990s and realignment of government ministries and agencies in 2001. Ota left the LDP in 1994 to form a small party, but returned to the LDP the following year.

Controversies

Ota Igniting controversy after the

Super Free or its shortened form was an inter-university rave event club, mainly comprising students of Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. The leader of the club along with various students from Waseda and other universities in Tokyo were arrested and co ...

rape scandal was revealed. On 26 June, 2003 Ota said "At least gang rapists are still vigorous. Isn't that at least a little closer to normal?" This shocked Japan and

Mizuho Fukushima is a Japanese politician and attorney. A native of Nobeoka, Miyazaki, she has been a member of the House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors since 1998, was re-elected in 2004 and 2010, and was the head of the Social Democratic Party (J ...

criticized him. During the debate on terrorism in January 2008, he claimed that Fukushima was an "ultra-leftist". On 1 August 2008,

named Ota as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the cabinet list. However, he resigned the post on 19 September 2008, following a scandal over . He stated: "I met with Prime Minister Fukuda and told him my decision to resign, considering the seriousness of the tainted rice problem for the society."

accepted the resignation. Ota was informed of the problem in January 2007 but said he saw no need to make "too much of a fuss over it". The rice, tainted with

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...

methamidophos Methamidophos, trade name "Monitor," is an organophosphate insecticide. Crops grown with the use of methamidophos include potatoes and some Latin American rice. Many nations have used methamidophos on crops, including developed nations such as Spa ...

and

mould A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of spores containing fungal secondary metabolites. The spores are the dispersal units of the fungi ...

, was for industrial uses only, but was resold, used and served to make lunches for thousands of schoolchildren and nursing home patients.

Death

Ota died on 4 December 2024, at the age of 79.

References

External links

* * 1945 births 2024 deaths People from Fukuoka Keio University alumni Ministers of agriculture, forestry and fisheries of Japan Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2005–2009 {{japan-politician-1940s-stub