thumb The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thumb ...

is a Special Ambassador for Peacebuilding of Japan. She was a Japanese

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

in the

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

(national legislature). A native of

Otaru, Hokkaido is a city and port in Shiribeshi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan, northwest of Sapporo. The city faces Ishikari Bay and the Sea of Japan, and has long served as the main port of the bay. With its many historical buildings, Otaru is a popular tou ...

and graduate of

Tsuda College is a private women's university based at Kodaira, Tokyo. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious higher educational institutions for women in Japan, contributing to the advancement of women in society for more than a century. History The u ...

, she was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1996 as a member of the New Frontier Party. She later joined the LDP. She is a Senior Diplomatic Fellow, Cambridge Central Asia Forum and By-fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University as well as visiting professor at the Graduate School of Hokkaido University, the United Nations University and currently Tenjin Foreign Studies University. She has also been a Senior Visiting Researcher at St. Antony's College, Oxford University and at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She has served as the Member of the House of Representatives of Japan as well as Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Director of the Committee of Foreign Affairs, Director General of the Women's Bureau of Liberal Democratic Party, etc. Her areas of expertise include International Peacebuilding and Preventive State Theory, International Negotiation and Strategic Studies, and Intercultural Studies. On these and other subjects, she has written and lectured extensively and internationally. She has published many books such as “Think, or Sink: Preventive State Theory”, “Toward the Future: Human Security”, “From the Window of Oxford”, etc. She was awarded by OISCA for ‘Contribution to Asia’ and Soroptimist Japan for ‘International Contribution’. She is currently working on Human Development for Peacebuilding, and on Human Security, especially

water security Water security is the focused goal of water policy and water management. A society with a high level of water security makes the most of water's benefits for humans and ecosystems and limits the risk of destructive impacts associated with water. T ...

, food security and energy security as well as on Natural and Human Induced Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

References

* 1945 births Living people People from Otaru Female members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) New Frontier Party (Japan) politicians 20th-century Japanese politicians Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Tsuda University alumni 21st-century Japanese politicians 21st-century Japanese women politicians 20th-century Japanese women politicians {{Japan-politician-1940s-stub