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 who served as

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 cou ...

in 2011. A native of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

and graduate of 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 b ...

, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2000 after running unsuccessfully as an independent in 1996. Matsumoto is a great great grandson of

Itō Hirobumi was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the ''genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. A London-educated samu ...

, the first

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 Sta ...

. Matsumoto's father, Juro Matsumoto, was a senior member of the Liberal Democratic Party and was the Minister of Defense from August 1989 to February 1990. Matsumoto was selected as Foreign Minister of Japan in 2011 by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, after the resignation of his predecessor, Seiji Maehara, only two days before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and subsequent Fukushima I nuclear disaster. In 2015 Matsumoto left the DPJ citing the party's opposition to the

2015 Japanese military legislation In 2015, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party promoted legislation, passed on 19 September 2015, despite some public opposition, to allow the country's military to participate in foreign conflicts, overtu ...

and cooperation with the JCP. Before the

2017 elections The following elections occurred in 2017. Africa *2017 Somali presidential election 8 February 2017 *2017 Gambian parliamentary election 6 April 2017 * 2017 Algerian legislative election 4 May 2017 *2017 Lesotho general election 3 June 2017 *20 ...

he joined the Liberal Democratic Party. In November 2022 Matsumoto was appointed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to be

Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications The is a member of the Cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The minister is also a statutory member of the National Security Council, and is nominated by the Prime Ministe ...

, replacing Minoru Terada who had resigned the previous day.

Ancestry

References

External links

Official website
in Japanese. , - , - , - , - , - 1959 births Democratic Party of Japan politicians Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Foreign ministers of Japan Government ministers of Japan Living people Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) People from Tokyo University of Tokyo alumni {{Japan-politician-1950s-stub