Kazuyuki Hamada
| Kazuyuki Hamada | |
|---|---|
| 浜田 和幸 | |
 | |
| Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
|
In office 5 September 2011 – 26 December 2012 Serving with Joe Nakano, Toshiyuki Kato (until 30 Sept. 2012) Hirotami Murakoshi, Naoki Kazama (from 1 October 2012) | |
| Prime Minister | Yoshihiko Noda |
| Preceded by | Makiko Kikuta, Ikuo Yamahana, Hisashi Tokunaga |
| Succeeded by | Toshiko Abe, Minoru Kiuchi, Kenta Wakabayashi |
| Vice Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications | |
|
In office 27 June 2011 – 2 September 2011 Serving with Seiji Osaka, Takashi Morita | |
| Prime Minister | Naoto Kan |
| Preceded by | Akira Uchiyama |
| Succeeded by | Akio Fukuda |
| Member of the House of Councillors for the Tottori At-large district | |
|
Assumed office 26 July 2010 Serving with Yoshihiro Kawakami (until 28 July 2013), Shoji Maitachi (from 29 July 2013) | |
| Preceded by | Kotaro Tamura |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
17 March 1953 Yonago, Tottori, Japan |
| Political party |
Initiatives from Osaka (Apr. 2016-present) Future Generations / Japanese Kokoro (Nov. 2014–Apr. 2016) People's New (Dec. 2011–Mar. 2013) Liberal Democratic (2010–June 2011) |
| Alma mater |
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, George Washington University |
| Website |
www |
Kazuyuki Hamada (浜田 和幸 Hamada Kazuyuki, born 17 March, 1953) is a Japanese politician and member of the House of Councillors for the Tottori At-large district. Since being elected in 2010 as a candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party, he has changed parties twice and is currently a member of the Party for Japanese Kokoro.
Early life and pre-political career
Hamada was born in Yonago, Tottori on 17 March 1953. His father was employed at Japanese National Railways and his mother was from a farming family. He graduated from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies with a degree in Chinese language in 1975 and joined Nippon Steel the same year.[1] After leaving Nippon Steel Hamada joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., becoming a Fellow and Associate Director in 1987. He obtained a Ph.D. in political science[2] from George Washington University in 1992.[1] In 1995 he became a consultant at the United States' Congressional Research Service.
Political career
Hamada contested the Tottori at-large district of the national House of Councillors at the July 2010 election as a candaidate for the Liberal Democratic Party. He won the seat with 50.2% percent of the vote and defeated the Democratic Party of Japan candidate Mari Sakano, the granddaughter of Shigenobu Sakano, a former LDP member who had held the seat from 1986 until his death in April 2002.
On 27 June 2011, whilst still a member of the opposition LDP, Hamada was offered a position in the government of Naoto Kan as Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications. The position would see Hamada be responsible for recovery efforts arising from the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. He resigned from the LDP and joined the ministry the following day. The LDP responded to the move a week later by rejecting his resignation and instead expelling him from the party. He sat as an independent for several months before joining the People's New Party on 29 December 2011.
In September 2011 Kan was replaced as prime minister by Yoshihiko Noda. Hamada became a Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs in Noda's cabinet and remained in the position until the DPJ were defeated by the LDP in the December 2012 general election. The People's New Party also performed poorly in the election, and in the aftermath Hamada became Secretary-General of the party. By March 2013 he and party leader Shozaburo Jimi were the only party members remaining in the Diet and they decided to disband the party. Whilst again sitting as an independent, he caused some controversy in April 2014 during United States President Barack Obama's state visit to Japan by claiming that Michelle Obama's absence from the visit was evidence that the couple were "negotiating a divorce".[3]
Hamada joined the Party for Future Generations in November 2014, which changed its name to the Party for Japanese Kokoro in December 2015. In April 2016 he resigned from the party and joined Initiatives from Osaka, with the intention of contesting the summer 2016 election from the national PR block,[4] as his Tottori district is to be merged with the Shimane at-large district to create the Tottori-Shimane at-large district.
References
- 1 2 "Mr. HAMADA Kazuyuki". House of Councillors, The National Diet of Japan. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ "浜田 和幸（はまだ かずゆき）" [Hamada Kazuyuki] (in Japanese). House of Councillors, The National Diet of Japan. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ "No-show is no snub by family-oriented first lady". Japan Times. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
- ↑ "こころ・浜田和幸参院議員、おおさか維新入党へ" [Kokoro's Councillor Hamada to join Initiatives from Osaka] (in Japanese). Yomiuri Shimbun. 6 April 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
External links
- Official website in Japanese.
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