Hiroya Masuda

Hiroya Masuda

Hiroya Masuda (増田 寛也 Masuda Hiroya, born December 20, 1951) is a Japanese politician who was Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications from August 2007 to September 2008. Unlike many other members of the Cabinet, he is not a member of the Diet of Japan (parliament). A native of Tokyo, he graduated from the University of Tokyo and served as governor of Iwate Prefecture from 1995 to 2007. While serving as Iwate's governor, Masuda developed a reputation as a reformist by cutting spending through personnel cuts and took the initiative in introducing an industrial waste tax system. Masuda was reappointed as Minister of Internal Affairs when Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda reshuffled the cabinet on August 1, 2008.^[1] In the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso, appointed on September 24, 2008, Masuda was replaced by Kunio Hatoyama.^[2] Recently, political and corporate leaders in Japan were jolted by the conclusions of a 2014 book by Masuda called Local Extinctions. The book, a detailed report of population changes, used the latest official figures from the government’s National Institution of Population and Social Security Research to show that 896 cities, towns and villages throughout Japan were facing extinction by 2040. At first glance, the book simply repeated what earlier reports had concluded. However, it also included the percentages by which child-bearing women between the ages of 20 and 40 were expected to decline in each and every city, town and village.

References

1. Japan Times, "Fukuda's new lineup", August 3, 2008, Pg. 3.
2. "Aso elected premier / Announces Cabinet lineup himself; poll likely on Nov. 2", The Yomiuri Shimbun, 25 September 2008.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/05/16/national/social-issues/japan-becoming-extinct/#.Vlele1JUBhg

External links

• (Japanese)Hiroya Masuda official website