Tomio Okamura
| Tomio Okamura Member of Parliament | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
|
Assumed office 26 October 2013 | |
| Senator from Zlín | |
|
In office 20 October 2012 – 26 October 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Jana Juřenčáková |
| Succeeded by | Patrik Kunčar |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Tokyo, Japan |
| Political party |
Dawn of Direct Democracy (2013–2015) Freedom and Direct Democracy (2015–present) |
| Signature |
 |
| Website | https://www.tomio.cz/ |
Tomio Okamura (岡村 富夫 Okamura Tomio, born 4 July 1972 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese–Czech entrepreneur, writer and politician, Japanese and Korean origin. He was the founder of the Dawn of Direct Democracy and the Freedom and Direct Democracy. Since October 2013 he is Deputy of Chamber of Deputies of Parliament of the Czech republic for Movement of Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) to which he candidated in early election in 2013. He is also founder and chairman of SPD. His previous senatorial mandate of an independent candidate since October 2012 in Zlín district[3] expired as a result of his election as a member of Chamber of Deputies. According to public research, Okamura was announced as the most popular politician in the Czech Republic in autumn 2013.
In 2012 he announced his intention to run for president in the Czech presidential election, Ministry of Interior refused to register his candidacy due to insufficient number of signatures on petition sheets, less than two thousand sigantures were missing – the rest valid almost fifty thousand signatures were collected by Okamura and his supporters in record time - less than three weeks before the application for registration.4
Early life and background
Born in Tokyo to a Japanese-Korean father and a Czech mother. Okamura came to Czechoslovakia for the first time when he was six years old. He spent in Japan 10 years in total. He spent the part of his childhood in children´s home in Mašťov near Podbořany where he experienced bullying causing his stutter until he was 20 years old.
In his youth he worked as a dustman and later a popcorn seller at cinema in Japan.[1]
Since 2004 he works as a volunteer in the Association of Czech Travel Agencies (Czech: Asociace českých cestovních kanceláří a agentur, AČCKA) where he worked as vice – president and a spokesman in same time. For a long time he was patron of Endangered Children Fund (Czech: Fond ohrožených dětí, FOD).
Personal life
Okamura is Czech through his Moravian mother, who comes from the Zlín region.[2] In January 2012, it was reported that Okamura was dating a 20-year-old Czech student.[3] He has a son named Ruy from three years of marriage with the Japanese wife. He has two brothers, older Hayato works as interpreteur and translator, younger Osamu is architect and university teacher.
Business activities
He started his business in 1994 mainly in travel industry and the gastronomy. He also started publishing a quarterly Beer magazine (Czech: Pivní magazín). He is an author or co-author of several books. His book Tomio Okamura – The Czech Dream (Czech: Tomio Okamura – Český sen) just after publishing in 2010 ranked among ten best-sellers in the Czech Republic. In the spring of 2011 his second book Art of governance (Czech: Umění vládnout) was published. In 2012 he wrote a book Art of living (Czech: Umění žít). In 2013 he wrote two books – Art of Direct Democracy (Czech: Umění přímé demokracie) and Big Japanese cookbook (Czech: Velká japonská kuchařka).
Okamura has been a judge on the Czech version of British BBC television programme Dragons' Den, known as Den D in the Czech television.
Enterprise
Okamura is known for his connection with a number of businesses including the Association of Czech Travel Agencies (Czech: Asociace českých cestovních kanceláří a agentur, AČCKA), where he has worked as spokesman and vice-president.[1] Businesses Okamura has run include travel agent Miki travel and food shop Japa.[1]
Okamura has been a judge on the Czech version of television programme Dragons' Den, known as Den D.[4]
Political career
In June 2012, Okamura, well known for his aim to introduce a direct democracy, announced his candidacy for the 2012 Czech Senate election as an independent candidate in Zlín.[2] In the election, held in October, Okamura led after the first round of voting, having received over 30% of the vote.[5] In the second round, Okamura was successful in a run-off against Stanislav Mišák, taking more than 66% of the vote and winning a seat in the Senate on 20 October 2012.[5][6]
Immediately following his victory in the election to the Senate, Okamura announced his intention to run for office in the Czech presidential election, 2013.[6][7]
In the 2013 parliamentary elections his party — Tomio Okamura's Dawn of Direct Democracy — obtained 342 339 votes (6.88%) and gained 14 seats. His previous senatorial mandate expired as a result of his election as a member of parliament.
Politics
Senator
In October 2012, he candidated in Czech Senate election as an independent.
In June 2012, Okamura, well known for his aim to introduce direct democracy, announced his candidacy for the 2012 Czech Senate election as an independent candidate in Zlín region. In the election held in October Okamura led after the first round of voting, having received over 30% of the vote. In the second round, Okamura was successful in a run-off against region governor Stanislav Mišák13, taking more than 66% of the vote and winning a seat in the Senate on 20 October 2012.
In Senate he joined the club for restoration of democracy – KDU-ČSL and independent. In February 2013 he signed the proposal of Senator´s group on prosecuting president Vaclav Klaus of high treason for the amnesty announced by him14. The appeal was rejected by the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. Okamura also supported the constitutional amendment to abolish lifelong immunity of the public officials.16 Senator mandate expired as a result of his election as a member of Chamber of Deputies .
Candidacy for presidential election 2013
He announced his intention to candidate for Czech presidential election in reaction to the success in the Senate elections and in accordance with the pre-election pledge in direct election in 2013. Okamura´s supporters collected 61 500 signatures of citizens 19. However, on 23 November 2012, the Ministry of Interior announced that only 35 750 signatures were valid so that his candidacy registration was refused. The Supreme Administrative Court he appealed to ruled that Ministry of Interior made mistake when calculating the signatures, despite other used estimation method established by the Ministry, Okamura officially did not have sufficient number of signatures so he was not registered. Okamura called the Ministry to re-calculate signatures one by one, not by estimation method, but the Ministry has refused. Okamura never knew for real if he had sufficient number of signatures or not. Ministry of Interior did not give back invalid signature lists, so he could never make identification of signatures of citizens.
In reaction to this verdict, Okamura announced that it was “political decision“, thereby he questioned the judicial independence. After rejecting verdict of the Constitutional Court, Okamura said this verdict was unfair and that it is not possible to obtain justice in the Czech Republic.
Movement of Freedom and Direct Democracy (Czech: Svoboda a přímá demokracie, SPD)
Tomio Okamura is founder and chairman of Movement of Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD). Okamura´s SPD after registration immediately noted record interest, in the first three months 9 thousand of applicants filled application what meant the movement became one of the largest political party or movement in the Czech Republic.
The movement asserts patriotism, direct democracy, insists on keeping our national values towards EU, tightening of immigration laws and refuses to tolerate maladjusted groups parasiting on most decent citizens. They want decent living conditions for seniors and support for families with children, reject tax increase, assert Law on Referendum, direct election and recall and personal, substantive and criminal responsibility of politicians.
Movement of Freedom and Direct Democracy, in cooperation with French Front National, wants to create a political alternative development in Europe. Cooperation of national states, not European superstate is demanded. They want to change political system of our country by direct democracy implementation. They refuse endless debt. The movement stands on the side of honest work and fair business. SPD is movement solidarity to the needy but with zero tolerance to maladjusted citizens. It continues in the programme whose bearer was and still is Tomio Okamura.
Writing
Okamura has written a number of books, including Český sen, which was launched in 2010.[8]
Opinions and attitudes
Okamura is most famous Czech promoter of direct democracy system whose example is Switzerland or Liechtenstein. He has insisted on strict defending national interests.
References
- 1 2 3 Žižková, Markéta (20 October 2012). "Zloději se nám smějí do ksichtu, je čas na změnu, cílí Okamura na Hrad". lidovky.cz (in Czech) (Lidové noviny). Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- 1 2 Bořil, Martin (3 June 2012). "Okamura bude kandidovat do Senátu, kvůli matce si vybral Zlín" [Okamura will run for the Senate, he chose Zlín because of his mother]. idnes.cz (in Czech) (Mladá fronta DNES). Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- ↑ Herrmannová, Nela (22 January 2012). "Tomio Okamura: S přítelkyní jsme si první dva měsíce jen psali" [Tomio Okamura: with my girlfriend we only wrote for the first two months]. idnes.cz (in Czech) (Mladá fronta DNES). Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- ↑ Velinger, Jan (16 January 2011). "The good, the bad & the ugly in the dragon’s den". radio.cz (Czech Radio). Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- 1 2 Výsledky hlasování Obvod: 80 – Zlín
- 1 2 Procházková, Petra; Libiger, Milan (20 October 2012). "Podnikatel Okamura se stal senátorem, teď chce dobýt Hrad" [Entrepreneur Okamura becomes senator, now wants to conquer the castle]. idnes.cz (in Czech) (Mladá fronta DNES). Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- ↑ http://zpravy.idnes.cz/ministerstvo-vnitra-vyradilo-kandidaty-z-prime-volby-prezidenta-p99-/domaci.aspx?c=A121123_114054_domaci_kop
- ↑ Dvořák, Jan (10 May 2011). "Politika není špinavá, špinavý může být jen politik, říká Tomio Okamura" [Politics isn't dirty, only politicians can be dirty, says Tomio Okamura]. idnes.cz (in Czech) (Mladá fronta DNES). Retrieved 23 October 2012.
External links
|