is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 of the Democratic Party of Japan

Democratic Party of Japan

The is a political party in Japan founded in 1998 by the merger of several opposition parties. Its socially liberal platform is generally considered center-left in the Japanese political spectrum...

 (DPJ), a member of the House of Representatives

House of Representatives of Japan

The is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the upper house.The House of Representatives has 480 members, elected for a four-year term. Of these, 180 members are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation,...

 in the Diet

Diet of Japan

The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...

 (national legislature). A native of Kabato District, Hokkaidō

Kabato District, Hokkaido

is a district located in Sorachi Subprefecture, Hokkaidō, Japan.As of 2004, the district has an estimated population of 14,944 and a density of 19.99 persons per km². The total area is 747.75 km².-Towns and villages:*Shintotsukawa*Tsukigata*Urausu...

 and graduate of Hokkaido University

Hokkaido University

Hokkaido University is one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. It can be seen in the several rankings such as shown below.-General Rankings:...

, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1990 as an independent. He later joined first the Japan Socialist Party and then the DPJ. In 2003 he left the Diet to run for governorship of Hokkaido, which was unsuccessful. In the same year he ran for a seat in the House of Representatives and was elected. In September 2011 he was appointed as Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in the cabinet of newly appointed prime minister Yoshihiko Noda

Yoshihiko Noda

is the current Prime Minister of Japan, a member of the Democratic Party of Japan , and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet...

.

He resigned only one week after for his declarations regarding his visit in the exclusion zone of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

The is a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. The plant comprises six separate boiling water reactors originally designed by General Electric ,...

: on September 9, he compared the vicinity of the plant to a "ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

", and the previous day, jokingly mimicked rubbing his jacket on a journalist while telling him "I'll give you radiation".

External links

• Official website in Japanese.