is a Japanese politician. As of 2008 he is 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 ...

(lower house) currently serving in his eighth term representing Fukuoka's Third District. He is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the Koga faction. Kiyoko Fukuda, who married

Prime Minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan (Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Stat ...

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 ...

, is his cousin.

Career

Before entering politics, Ota was an economics professor. He then served as chief of the Management and Coordination Agency. Ota entered politics in 1980 with the help of his father-in-law, the governor of Fukuoka. He has since been involved mainly in economic policy. Under

Noboru Takeshita was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1987 to 1989 during the bubble economy. Takeshita led the largest faction at the time in the Liberal Democratic Party, which he inherited from Kakuei Tanaka, from the 1980s u ...

in the late 1980s, he advocated the introduction of the

consumption tax A consumption tax is a tax levied on consumption spending on goods and services. The tax base of such a tax is the money spent on Consumption (economics), consumption. Consumption taxes are usually indirect, such as a sales tax or a value-added ta ...

. Ota also participated in changes in the Commercial Law in the late 1990s and realignment of government ministries and agencies in 2001. Ota left the LDP in 1994 to form a small party, but returned to the LDP the following year. Igniting more controversy after the

Super Free or its shortened form was an inter-university rave event club, mainly comprising students of Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. The leader of the club along with various students from Waseda and other universities in Tokyo were arrested and co ...

rape scandal was revealed, on 26 June 2003 Ota said "At least gang rapists are still vigorous. Isn't that at least a little closer to normal?" This shocked Japan and

Mizuho Fukushima is a Japanese politician, attorney. A native of Nobeoka, Miyazaki, she has been a member of the House of Councillors since 1998, was re-elected in 2004 and 2010, and was the head of the Social Democratic Party of Japan (SDP), from 2003 to 2013. S ...

criticized him. During the debate of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

in January 2008, he claimed that Fukushima was an "ultra-leftist". On August 1, 2008,

named Ota as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the cabinet list. However, he resigned the post on September 19, 2008, following a scandal over . He stated: "I met with Prime Minister Fukuda and told him my decision to resign, considering the seriousness of the tainted rice problem for the society."

accepted the resignation. Ota was informed of the problem in January 2007 but said he saw no need to make "too much of a fuss over it". The rice, tainted with

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...

methamidophos Methamidophos, trade name "Monitor," is an organophosphate insecticide. Crops grown with the use of methamidophos include potatoes and some Latin American rice. Many nations have used methamidophos on crops, including developed nations such as Spa ...

and mould, was for industrial uses only, but was resold, used and served to make lunches for thousands of schoolchildren and nursing home patients.ap.google.com, Japan agriculture minister quits over tainted rice

References

External links

Fury over Japan rape gaffe

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

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Ōta Seiichi Official Web Site
1945 births Living people People from Fukuoka Keio University alumni Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Ministers of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians 21st-century Japanese politicians {{japan-politician-1940s-stub