Nariaki Nakayama

Nariaki Nakayama (2008)

Nariaki Nakayama (中山 成彬, Nakayama Nariaki, born 7 June 1943) is a Japanese politician. He served as Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in the Cabinet of Junichiro Koizumi and later as Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism under Tarō Asō. After only four days in office he resigned due to a series of gaffes. Appointed on 24 September 2008, he resigned on 28 September 2008.[1][2] After being de-endorsed by the LDP he lost his seat in the 2009 general election, eventually returning to the diet as a member of the Japan Restoration Party in the 2012 general election. He lost his seat again in the 2014 general election.

Background

Graduating from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo in 1966, Nakayama joined the Ministry of Finance. In 1986 he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time, and in September 2004, he became the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. He is married to Kyoko Nakayama, also a conservative politician.

Conservative positions

Nakayama is affiliated to the openly revisionist organization Nippon Kaigi.[3]

When he was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, Nakayama was prominent in efforts to censor sections of junior high textbooks in Japan that made references to Japan's wartime sex slaves. In 2013, he continues to deny that women were forced to work in brothels during wartime.[4] He claims that the Nanjing Massacre was a complete fabrication, was a supporter of right-wing filmmaker Satoru Mizushima's 2007 revisionist film The Truth about Nanjing, which denied that the massacre ever occurred.[5] During the first administration of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe Nakayama made efforts to revise the Kono statement of 1993.[6]

He has continued to express Japanese conservative vision of history.[7][8][9]

As a four-day cabinet minister

In the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso, appointed on 24 September 2008, Nakayama was appointed as Minister of Construction and Transport.[10] He made several controversial statements since his appointment, such as saying: "I will stand at the forefront to destroy the Japan Teachers' Union, which is a cancer for Japanese education". In a press conference related to his Minister of Tourism portfolio, he declared that Japan is basically "ethnically homogeneous," which greatly angered the Ainu, an indigenous ethnic minority living mostly in Northern Japan.[11] He also said that Japanese people "do not like nor desire foreigners". He resigned on 27 September 2008.[12]

Loss of LDP confidence and loss of lower house seat

In the 2009 general election the LDP was reluctant to run Nakayama as a candidate. He ran as an independent and lost his seat.[13]

Move to the Sunrise Party of Japan, Japan Restoration Party, and Party for Future Generations

On 21 June 2010 Nakayama and his wife Kyoko announced that they would move from the Liberal Democratic Party to the Sunrise Party of Japan.[13] He ran for the House of Councilors in the July 11 2010 election, but was not elected.[14] The Sunrise Party became part of the Japan Restoration Party, and Nariaki returned to the Diet in the 2012 general election. When Shintaro Ishihara's group left that party to form the Party for Future Generations he and his wife went too. He lost his seat again in the 2014 general election.

References

  1. ↑ "中山交通相２８日に辞任へ (Transport Minister Nakayama to resign on the 28th)". NHK News. 27 September 2008. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  2. ↑ "Transportation minister resigns after five days". Wikileaks. 30 September 2008. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "Pro-Yasukuni lineup features Aso Cabinet" - Japan Press Weekly - Sept 24, 2008
  4. ↑ Japan Times Forcibly recruited Korean sex slaves a myth: lawmaker June 8, 2014 Retrieved March 25, 2015
  5. ↑ The Japan Times NANJING MASSACRE 70TH ANNIVERSARY 6 December 2007 Retrieved 21 August 2012
  6. ↑ Reiji Yoshida (11 March 2007). "Sex slave history erased from texts; '93 apology next?". The Japan Times. Retrieved 18 November 2007.
  7. ↑ J. Hongo, Lawmaker alleges sex-slave denial censored, Japan Times 15 March 2013; Hashimoto's plan to apologize to former 'comfort women' goes awry, Mainichi Shimbun 25 May 2013.
  8. ↑ Japan Times Forcibly recruited Korean sex slaves a myth: lawmaker The Japan Times. 9 June 2013
  9. ↑ The Point Awake Peace-addicted Japanese! 21 July 2013
  10. ↑ "Aso elected premier / Announces Cabinet lineup himself; poll likely on Nov. 2", The Yomiuri Shimbun, 25 September 2008.
  11. ↑ "New Japanese minister in hot seat after gaffes", Reuters, 27 September 2008.
  12. ↑ The Japan Times Gaffe-prone Nakayama quits Cabinet 29 September 2008 Retrieved 21 August 2012
  13. 1 2 The Japan Times Nakayamas go with Tachiagare Nippon 22 June 2010 Retrieved 21 August 2012
  14. ↑ Ourcampaigns.com Our Elections - Sunrise Party Retrieved 21 August 2012
Third Realigned Koizumi Cabinet
(2005-10-31)
Secretary Shinzo Abe
Internal Affairs Heizō Takenaka
Justice Seiken Sugiura
Foreign Affairs Taro Aso
Finance Sadakazu Tanigaki
Education Kenji Kosaka
Health Jirō Kawasaki
Agriculture Shoichi Nakagawa
Economy Toshihiro Nikai
Land Kazuo Kitagawa
Environment Yuriko Koike
Defense Fukushiro Nukaga
Ministers of State Tetsuo Kutsukake, Kaoru Yosano, Koki Chuma, Iwao Matsuda, Kuniko Inoguchi
Political offices
Preceded by
Sadakazu Tanigaki		 Minister of Land，Infrastructure，Transport and Tourism of Japan
2008 		Succeeded by
Kazuyoshi Kaneko
Preceded by
Takeo Kawamura		 Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan
2004–2005 		Succeeded by
Kenji Kosaka
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