is a Japanese academic and politician. He has been a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

since November 2024.

Early life and education

Hatoyama was born on 26 July 1976 in California, when his father

Yukio Hatoyama is a Japanese retired politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and Leader of the Democratic Party of Japan from 2009 to 2010. He was the first Prime Minister from the modern Democratic Party of Japan. First elected to the House of Repre ...

, later prime minister, was studying for his PhD in

operations research Operations research () (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a branch of applied mathematics that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve management and ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. Hatoyama is a member of the

Hatoyama family The Hatoyama family is a prominent Japanese political family which has been called "Japan's Kennedy family." Ichirō Hatoyama and Yukio Hatoyama served as a Prime Minister of Japan The is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister ...

, and his other notable relations include former his great grandfather

Ichirō Hatoyama was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan, prime minister of Japan from 1954 to 1956. During his tenure he oversaw the formation of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and restored official ...

, prime minister of Japan and the founder of the

Liberal Democratic Party Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

, Ichirō's father

Kazuo Hatoyama was a Japanese lawyer and politician who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1896 to 1897. He was the patriarch of the prominent Hatoyama family, father of Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama, great-grandfather of Prime Minister ...

, prominent jusrist and politician in Meiji era Japan, and Ichirō's son

Iichirō Hatoyama was a Japanese politician and diplomat. Between 1976 and 1977, he served as Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda. He was the son and father of two former Prime Ministers, Ichirō Career In 1946, he returned to the Ministry of F ...

. Hatoyama was educated at the Gakushuin Junior High School and Senior High School at Komaba, University of Tsukuba. Following family tradition, he matriculated at the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

(UTokyo) in 1995, where he chose to specialise in urban engineering after the Shingaku Furiwake. During his time at UTokyo, he was a cellist in the university orchestra. He completed his master’s degree at UTokyo in 2001 and went on to earn a PhD in

transport engineering Transportation engineering or transport engineering is the application of technology and scientific principles to the planning, functional design, operation and management of facilities for any mode of transportation to provide for the safe, ...

in 2007. His thesis was entitled ''Guideline Formulation for Signalized Intersection Design Considering Impacts on Pedestrians' Psychology''. He remained at his alma mater as assistant professor and lecturer until 2017, when he was appointed associated professor at

Nagaoka University of Technology , abbreviated as Nagaoka Gidai, is a national technological university in Nagaoka, Niigata, Japan. It is one of two universities of technology in Japan, the other being Toyohashi University of Technology in Aichi. The university requires four ...

. Beginning in 2008, he spent three years at

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

as a visiting professor.

Political career

He is a member of the Democratic Party for the People, having joined in 2023. He was first elected in the

2024 Japanese general election General elections were held in Japan on 27 October 2024 due to the early dissolution of the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet, by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. Voting took place in ...

for the

Tokyo proportional representation block The Tōkyō proportional representation block (), or more formally the proportional representation tier , is one of eleven proportional representation (PR) "blocks", multi-member constituencies for the House of Representatives in the Diet of Jap ...

. He lost his Tokyo 2nd district contest to the incumbent, but was elected via the PR block after getting enough votes (73.4% ''

sekihairitsu is a method used in the proportional representation (PR) constituencies ("blocks") for the Japanese House of Representatives to determine the order of candidates placed on the same list position by their party. Under the PR system introduced in t ...

'') to obtain his party's last block seat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatoyama, Kiichirou 1976 births Living people Hatoyama family Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2024– Politicians from Tokyo University of Tokyo alumni