Nobutaka Machimura

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Junior Second Rank
Nobutaka Machimura
町村 信孝
Shinzō Abe
Preceded byTarō Asō
Succeeded byMasahiko Kōmura
In office
27 September 2004 – 21 September 2005
Prime MinisterJunichiro Koizumi
Preceded byYoriko Kawaguchi
Succeeded byTarō Asō
Personal details
Born(1944-10-17)17 October 1944
Numazu, Japan
Died1 June 2015(2015-06-01) (aged 70)
Tokyo, Japan
Political partyLiberal Democratic Party (1983–2015)
Alma materUniversity of Tokyo
Wesleyan University

Nobutaka Machimura (町村 信孝, Machimura Nobutaka, 17 October 1944 – 1 June 2015) was a Japanese politician. He was a member of the

Speaker of the House of Representatives on 21 April 2015 after suffering from a stroke.[2]

Early life and education

Machimura was born on 17 October 1944. He attended the University of Tokyo and Wesleyan University in the United States.

Career

Nobutaka Machimura and Condoleezza Rice in September 2007
With members of the Yasuo Fukuda Cabinet in September 2007

Machimura was elected to his first term in the House of Representatives in the December 1983 election, and he was re-elected in each election since. He became Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture on 11 September 1997, as part of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's second cabinet, and became State Secretary for Foreign Affairs on 31 July 1998, in Keizō Obuchi's first cabinet. In March 2000, he became Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, serving under Obuchi and his successor, Yoshirō Mori. On 5 December 2000, he became Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture and Director-General of the Science and Technology Agency, before becoming Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology on 6 January 2001.[1]

He was the

Japanese hostages who were kidnapped by North Korean agents during the 1970s and 1980s. He was replaced by Tarō Asō in the cabinet reshuffle
that followed the 11 September 2005 election.

He was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs again by Prime Minister

In Fukuda's government, sworn in on 16 September 2007, Machimura became Chief Cabinet Secretary and State Minister in charge of abduction issues.

Taro Aso, which was appointed on 24 September 2008.[8]

He was the vice president of the

Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union
.

Personal life

On 18 December 2007, Machimura said at an official press conference that he believed in the existence of UFOs.[9][10]

On 1 June 2015, he died after a cerebral infarction at an hospital in Tokyo.[11]

Honours

References

  1. ^ a b c "Profile of Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura", Foreign Ministry website.
  2. ^ "Lower House approves Machimura's resignation, selects Oshima as successor". The Japan Times. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  3. ^ Takashi Hirokawa and Stuart Biggs, "Abe Replaces Finance Minister; Aso to Rebuild LDP", Bloomberg, 27 August 2007.
  4. ^ "Machimura takes top LDP faction". The Japan Times. 20 October 2006. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
  5. ^ Keiichi Yamamura and Sachiko Sakamaki, "Fukuda Challenges Aso in Race to Be Prime Minister", Bloomberg, 14 September 2007.
  6. ^ (in Japanese) Official faction website: List of chairmen
  7. ^ "Fukuda Cabinet launched / Changes minimized to reduce impact on Diet business", The Yomiuri Shimbun, 26 September 2007.
  8. ^ "Aso elected premier / Announces Cabinet lineup himself; poll likely on 2 November", The Yomiuri Shimbun, 25 September 2008.
  9. ^ (in Dutch) Japanse kabinetssecretaris gelooft in UFO's, NU.nl, 19 December 2007
  10. ^ "UFOs exist, says Japan official". BBC. 18 December 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  11. ^ "Ex-lower house Speaker Machimura dies at 70". The Japan News. 1 June 2015. Archived from the original on 2 June 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.

External links

House of Representatives of Japan
Preceded by
Multi-member constituency
Representative for
Hokkaidō 1st district

(multi-member)

1983–1996
District eliminated
New constituency Representative for
Hokkaidō 5th district

1996–2009
Succeeded by
Chiyomi Kobayashi
Preceded by
N/A
Representative for the
Hokkaidō PR block

2009–2010
Succeeded by
N/A
Vacant
Title last held by
Chiyomi Kobayashi
Representative for Hokkaidō 5th district
2010–2015
Incumbent
Preceded by
2014–2015
Succeeded by
Tadamori Oshima
Political offices
Preceded by Chief Cabinet Secretary
2007–2008
Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of State for the Abduction Issue
2007–2008
Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for Foreign Affairs
2007
Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for Foreign Affairs
2004–2005
Succeeded by
New creation Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
2001
Succeeded by
Atsuko Toyama
Preceded by
Tadamori Oshima
Minister of Education

1997–1998
2000–2001
Succeeded by
Akito Arima
Office abolished