is 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, 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). He is the Senior Vice Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications. A native of

Sagamihara, Kanagawa is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 723,470, with 334,812 households, and a population density of 1,220 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Sagamihara is the third-most-populous city ...

, he graduated from

Rikkyo University , also known as Saint Paul's University, is a private university, in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan. Rikkyo is known as one of the six leading universities in the field of sports in Tokyo (東京六大学 "Big Six" — Rikkyo University, University of ...

and received his master's degree in economic sociology from the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. He was elected to the first of his two terms in the assembly of Kanagawa Prefecture in 1999 and then to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2005.

Early life

Born in

Sagamihara is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 723,470, with 334,812 households, and a population density of 1,220 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Sagamihara is the third-most-populous city ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

to Kanagawa Prefectural Assembly Member Kazuyuki Akama, Akama grew up in the city, graduating from Samagihara Primary, Middle and Secondary school. He then go on to attend

for four years, during which time he served as the vice-captain of the boxing club of the Athletic Association. In 1998, he reached the 4th round of the league championship, represengting Yokota Sports Gym. After graducating with a

Bachelor of Economics The Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon), or the "Bachelor of Applied Economics", is a bachelor's degree awarded by many universities and colleges for completion of an undergraduate program in economics, econometrics, or applied economics; the ...

degree, he travelled to England to study a masters in economic sociology from the

Graduate School for the next four years, while also volunteering at a facility for the elderly. After graduating and returning to Japan, he helped his father in the operation of a community workshop for people who have intellectual disabilities.

Career

Assembly member

In 1999, Akama first ran for the Kanagawa Prefectural Assembly as an independent at the age of 31, and in winning the election he became the first independent member for the Samigahara constituency in 16 years. Shortly after his election to the assembly however he joined the Liberal Democratic Party. During Akama's first term as an assembly member, he published a bimonthly manga magazine called "Jiro Akama's Political Notebook that even a monkey can understand" In 2003, he was re-elected as the top candidate for the Sagamihara City district for the Assembly. During his tenure at the Assembly, Akama servedas the Vice Chairman of both the Liberal Democratic Party Assembly Policy Research Committee and the of the Special Committee.

Representative

During his second term as an Assembly member, Akama decided to take part in the 2005 general election as the candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party in the 14th district of Kanagawa. He went up against the Democratic Party's acting representative Hirohisa Fujī and managed to defeat him by nearly 30,000 votes. During this first term he was a member of the House Steering Committee and the General Affairs Committee, and was devoted to developing laws that increased local autonomy in the country. During the 2009 general election, he ran for re-election in his district, receiving endorsements from the party Komeito, but was defeated by the Democratic Party candidate Kentaro Motomura by a margin of 50,000. Akama was re-elected to the seat in the following 2012 general election. On September 4, 2014, he was appointed to be one of the Parliamentary Vice Ministers for Internal Affairs and Communication during the

Second Abe Cabinet The Second Abe Cabinet governed Japan under the leadership of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe from December 2012 to December 2014. Following the return to power of the LDP in the 2012 general election, Abe, as party president, was elected Prime Minis ...

reshuffle. Shortly after this, Akama went on to win a 3rd term in his constituency at the 2014 general election. On August 5, 2016, Akame was appointed as a State Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications and as a State Minister of the Cabinet Office during the 2nd reshuffle of the

Third Abe Cabinet The Third Abe cabinet governed Japan under the leadership of the prime minister, Shinzō Abe, from December 2014 to November 2017. The government was a coalition between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito (which had changed its name fro ...

. In March 2017, he visited

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

as the State Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, attending the opening ceremony of a food and tourism event hosted by the

Japan–Taiwan Exchange Association The (), formerly known as Interchange Association, is an organization that List of diplomatic missions of Japan, represents the interests of Japan in Taiwan. In 2017, the current name was adopted. Its counterpart in Japan is the Taipei Ec ...

. This was the first time a state minister level official had been sent to visit Taiwan on official business since the official severing of diplomatic ties between Japan and Taiwan in 1972.

Election Results

Assembly Election Results

House of Representatives Results

References

External links

* in Japanese. {{DEFAULTSORT:Akama, Jiro 1968 births Living people People from Sagamihara Alumni of the University of Manchester Lightweight boxers Japanese sportsperson-politicians Koizumi Children Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Rikkyo University alumni Japanese male boxers