Marutei Tsurunen
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Marutei Tsurunen (ツルネン マルテイ or 弦念 丸呈 Tsurunen Marutei, born April 30, 1940) is the first European and openly foreign-born Japanese member of the Diet of Japan (a Korean had previously served in the Diet, but presented himself as Japanese). He is a member of the Democratic Party of Japan, where he serves as Director General of the International Department.
[edit] Biography
He was born Martti Turunen in Jaakonvaara, Finland. In 1967, at the age of 27, he traveled to Japan as a lay missionary of the Lutheran Church, accompanied by his first wife, who was also Finn (they later divorced). [1] In 1974, when he was 34, he met his second wife, Sachiko, and he became enamored with the country. Having decided to become Japanese, he gained his citizenship in 1979, at the age of 39, and took on a Japanese version of his Finnish name.
Over the next decade, Tsurunen completed the first Finnish translations of The Tale of Genji and several other Japanese books while teaching English in Kanagawa prefecture.
He has two children, including one daughter (the eldest) and one son (four years younger).
[edit] Politics
In 1992, at the age of 52, he ran for the town assembly in Yugawara and was elected. He subsequently wrote a popular book called Here Comes a Blue-Eyed Assemblyman.
He served on the Yugawara assembly until 1995, when he made his first bid for the House of Councillors and lost.
In 2001, after writing another book called I Want to Be Japanese, Tsurunen again failed to achieve a seat but was the first runner-up for the DPJ.
After the resignation of Kyosen Ohashi, Tsurunen finally entered the House of Councillors on October 4, 2002.
Tsurunen was reelected in the election held on July 11, 2004.
