was a Japanese politician. He was a member of the

House of Representatives of Japan The is the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors is the upper house. The composition of the House is established by and of the Constitution of Japan. The House of Representatives ha ...

and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party."Profile of Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura"
Foreign Ministry website. He was

Chief Cabinet Secretary The is a member of the cabinet and is the leader and chief executive of the Cabinet Secretariat of Japan. The Chief Cabinet Secretary coordinates the policies of ministries and agencies in the executive branch, and also serves as the government ...

in the government of Prime Minister

Yasuo Fukuda is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2007 to 2008. He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving in that role from 2000 to 2004 under Prime Ministers Yoshirō M ...

from 2007 to 2008 and twice

Minister for Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between coun ...

, in the cabinets of

Junichiro Koizumi Junichiro Koizumi (; , ''Koizumi Jun'ichirō'' ; born 8 January 1942) is a former Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2009. He is ...

and

Shinzō Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 20 ...

. He resigned as the Speaker of the House of Representatives on 21 April 2015 after suffering from a stroke.

Early life and education

Machimura was born on 17 October 1944. He attended 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 ...

and

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

in the United States.

Career

Machimura was elected to his first term in the House of Representatives in the December 1983 election, and he was re-elected in each election since. He became Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture on 11 September 1997, as part of Prime Minister

Ryutaro Hashimoto was a Japanese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1996 to 1998. He was the leader of one of the largest factions within the ruling LDP through most of the 1990s and remained a powerful back-room player in Japanese politic ...

's second cabinet, and became State Secretary for Foreign Affairs on 31 July 1998, in

Keizō Obuchi was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1998 to 2000. Obuchi was elected to the House of Representatives in Gunma Prefecture in 1963, becoming the youngest legislator in Japanese history, and was re-elected to his ...

's first cabinet. In March 2000, he became Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, serving under Obuchi and his successor,

Yoshirō Mori is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan between April 2000 and April 2001. He was unpopular in opinion polls during his time in office, and is known for making controversial statements, both during and after his ...

. On 5 December 2000, he became Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture and Director-General of the Science and Technology Agency, before becoming Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology on 6 January 2001. He was the

under Prime Minister

from 27 September 2004 to 31 October 2005. His goals included signing a treaty with

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

relations with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

form leader resolving a border dispute, and investigating the whereabouts of Japanese hostages who were kidnapped by

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

n agents during the 1970s and 1980s. He was replaced by

Tarō Asō is a Japanese politician serving as the Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. Asō previously served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2008 to 2009 and as Deputy Prime Minister of Japan and Minister of Finance from 2 ...

in the

cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parlia ...

that followed the 11 September 2005 election. He was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs again by Prime Minister

on 27 August 2007. In 2006, Machimura became chairman of the ''Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai'', the LDP's largest faction. As such, on 14 September 2007, he backed Yasuo Fukuda's bid to become Abe's successor, following Abe's resignation on 12 September.Keiichi Yamamura and Sachiko Sakamaki
"Fukuda Challenges Aso in Race to Be Prime Minister"
Bloomberg, 14 September 2007. Since 2007, Machimura had co-chaired his faction alongside

Hidenao Nakagawa is a Japanese politician who is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and the House of Representatives of the Diet (parliament). Overviews He served Yoshirō Mori as Chief Cabinet Secretary The is a member of the cabinet and is the l ...

and Shūzen Tanigawa. In Fukuda's government, sworn in on 16 September 2007, Machimura became Chief Cabinet Secretary and State Minister in charge of abduction issues. He was replaced by

Takeo Kawamura Takeo Kawamura may refer to: * Takeo Kawamura (politician) * Takeo Kawamura (baseball) {{hndis, Kawamura, Takeo