Tochigi 3rd district (栃木 ��第区 ''Tochigi ken dai-an-ku'') is a single-member electoral district for 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 ...

, the lower house of the

National Diet , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

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 ...

. Located in north-eastern Tochigi, it covers the cities of

Ōtawara is a Cities of Japan, city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 72,189 in 30,136 households, and a population density of 210 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . The city's name may also b ...

Yaita 270px, Mount Takahara is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 31,859 in 13,173 households, and a population density of 67 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Yaita is loc ...

Nasushiobara 270px, Shiobara Onsen is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 115,794 in 48,437 households, and a population density of 67 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Nasushioba ...

Nasukarasuyama file:Tochigi Ryumon-Waterfall.jpg, Ryumon Falls is a Cities of Japan, city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 25,783 in 10,509 households, and a population density of 150 persons per km2. The total ar ...

and the towns of Nasu and Nakagawa in Nasu District. As of September 2011, 247,284 eligible voters were registered in Tochigi 3rd district, giving it well above average (347,878 voters per district) vote weight. From the creation of the district until 2014, the representative from Tochigi 3rd district was former

Liberal Democrat 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 ...

Yoshimi Watanabe is a former Japanese politician. He was formerly a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and later the founder of Your Party, after which he became a member of Nippon Ishin no Kai until 2019 when he then became an independent politician. He wa ...

who founded

Your Party is a Japanese parliamentary caucus consisting of Yoshimi Watanabe and Takashi Tachibana, later Satoshi Hamada after Tachibana forfeited his seat, in the House of Councillors. It was also a political party led by Watanabe from 2009 until its ...

(''Minna no Tō'', lit. "Everyone's Party") in 2009. In that year, the established parties did not even contest the seat. The only challenger the Democratic Party ever nominated has been Takashi Kobayashi in 2005. In the first three elections, only the left-wing parties contested the seat. In 2014 Watanabe was involved in a scandal over undisclosed loans and lost the next elections to the LDP candidate

Kazuo Yana Kazuo Yana is a Japanese politician who is a member of the House of Representatives. Biography He earned degrees from Keio University and Tokyo University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a p ...

. Before the electoral reform, the area had been part of the five-member 1st district. Representatives from the 1st district had included Watanabe's father

Michio Michio (written: 道夫, 道雄, 道郎, 通夫 or 三知男) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese shogi player *, Japanese dancer and choreographer *Michio Kaku (born 1947), American theoretical ph ...

who died in 1995.

List of representatives

Election results

References

{{coord missing, Tochigi Prefecture House of Representatives (Japan) districts in Tochigi Prefecture Constituencies established in 1994 1994 establishments in Japan