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 ...

from the

Constitutional Democratic Party ) , newspaper = ''Rech'' , ideology = ConstitutionalismConstitutional monarchismLiberal democracyParliamentarism Political pluralismSocial liberalism , position = Centre to centre-left , international = , colours ...

and 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, ...

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).

Overview

A native of

Kabato District, Hokkaidō is a district located in Sorachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. As of 2004, the district has an estimated population of 14,944 and a density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. Th ...

and graduate of

Hokkaido University , or , is a Japanese national university in Sapporo, Hokkaido. It was the fifth Imperial University in Japan, which were established to be the nation's finest institutions of higher education or research. Hokkaido University is considered ...

, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1990 as an independent. He later joined first the

Japan Socialist Party The was a socialist and progressive political party in Japan that existed from 1945 to 1996. The party was founded as the Social Democratic Party of Japan by members of several proletarian parties that existed before World War II, including ...

and then the DPJ. In 2003 he left the Diet to run for governorship of Hokkaido, which was unsuccessful. In the same year he ran for the

Hokkaido 4th district is a single-member electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. It represents Shiribeshi Subprefecture of Hokkaido, including the city of Otaru, as well as Teine Ward and a portion of Nishi ...

in the House of Representatives and was elected. In September 2011 he was appointed as

Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry The is a member of the Cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The minister is also a statutory member of the National Security Council, and is nominated by the Prime Minister of Japan ...

in the cabinet of newly appointed prime minister

Yoshihiko Noda is a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 2011 to 2012. He was a member of the Democratic Party, and a member of the House of Representatives (lower house) in the Diet (national legislature). He was named to succeed Naoto K ...

. He resigned after being criticised for making controversial comments during his visit to the exclusion zone of

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 ...

on September 9. He compared the vicinity of the plant to a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

, and on the previous day, jokingly mimicked rubbing his jacket on a journalist while telling him "I'll give you radiation." Hachiro lost re-election in the 2012 general election. He recontested his old seat in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, but narrowly lost to the incumbent MP. He ran for a

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

seat in the 2016 House of Councillors election, successfully obtaining the third seat allocated for the prefecture. When the Democratic Party merged with the Party of Hope in May 2018 to form the

Democratic Party for the People The , abbreviated to DPP or DPFP, is a centre to centre-right political party in Japan. The party was formed on 7 May 2018 from the merger of the Democratic Party and Kibō no Tō (''Party of Hope''). In September 2020 a majority of the party ...

, Hachiro did not join the new party and moved the CDP instead.

References

External links

Official website
in Japanese. Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) People from Hokkaido Living people 1948 births Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan politicians Social Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Democratic Party of Japan politicians Hokkaido University alumni 21st-century Japanese politicians Government ministers of Japan {{Japan-politician-1940s-stub