is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

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 ...

, attorney. A native of

Nobeoka, Miyazaki is a city located in the north of Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, the city has an estimated population of 119,521 and a population density of 138 persons per km². The total area is . History The city was officially founded on F ...

, she has been a member of the

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, ...

since 1998, was re-elected in 2004 and 2010, and was the head of the

Social Democratic Party of Japan The is a political party in Japan that was established in 1996. Since its reformation and name change in 1996, it has advocated pacifism and defined itself as a social-democratic party. It was previously known as the . The party was refounded ...

(SDP), from 2003 to 2013. She was elected as the leader of the party for a second time in February 2020.

Education and career before politics

After graduating from the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

with a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree, she became a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

in 1987. She was a

Visiting Professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

Gakushuin Women's College is a private women's college in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan; part of the Gakushūin School Corporation (学習院). The predecessor of the school was founded in 1847 by Emperor Kōmei. It was chartered as a junior college in 1949 and became a four ...

Political career and political views

Fukushima was also Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety, Social Affairs, and

Gender Equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

in Prime Minister

Yukio Hatoyama is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 16 September 2009 to 8 June 2010. He was the first Prime Minister from the modern Democratic Party of Japan. First elected to the House of Representatives in 1986, Hatoy ...

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

(16 September 2009 – 28 May 2010); the SDP was the junior partner in the DPJ-led government coalition. However, in May 2010 disagreements over the issue of the

Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is a United States Marine Corps base located in Ginowan, Okinawa, Japan, northeast of Naha, on the island of Okinawa. It is home to approximately 3,000 Marines of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and other units, and has been a U.S. military ai ...

led to the sacking of Fukushima from the cabinet on 28 May and the SDP subsequently voted to leave the ruling coalition. Fukushima's Social Democratic Party has an

anti-nuclear The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, natio ...

platform, and she has been referred to as a prominent anti-nuclear activist. For three decades, she was at the forefront of an often futile fight against the utilities that operated Japan's nuclear reactors, the corporations that built them and the bureaucrats who enabled them. That situation changed with the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 and ...

in March 2011. She has opposed

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

on the SDP website. After a disappointing result in the 2013 election for the House of Councillors she announced her resignation as head of the party.Japan Time
SDP’s Fukushima resigns over dual election losses July 25, 2013
/ref> Fukushima was elected as the leader of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

on 22 February 2020. Fukushima was recipient of Knights of the

Ordre national du Mérite The Ordre national du Mérite (; en, National Order of Merit) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's esta ...

in December 2020.

References

External links

*
Official blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fukushima, Mizuho 1955 births Living people People from Miyazaki Prefecture University of Tokyo alumni Japanese women lawyers Japanese feminists Japanese anti–death penalty activists Female members of the House of Councillors (Japan) Women government ministers of Japan Social Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Japanese anti–nuclear power activists Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite 20th-century Japanese women politicians 21st-century Japanese women politicians

Education and career before politics

Political career and political views

See also

References

External links