Nariaki Nakayama
Native name中山 成彬
OfficeLeader of Kibō no Tō
Term start28 May 2019
Term end1 October 2021
PredecessorShigefumi Matsuzawa
SuccessorPosition abolished
Office 1Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
Prime minister 1Tarō Asō
Term start 124 September 2008
Term end 128 September 2008
Predecessor 1Sadakazu Tanigaki
Successor 1Kazuyoshi Kaneko
Office 2Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Prime minister 2Junichiro Koizumi
Term start 227 September 2004
Term end 231 October 2005
Predecessor 2Takeo Kawamura
Successor 2Kenji Kosaka
Office 3Member of House of Representatives
Constituency 3Kyushu PR
Term start 323 October 2017
Term end 314 October 2021
Constituency 4Kyushu PR
Term start 421 December 2012
Term end 421 November 2014
Constituency 5Miyazaki 1st
Term start 520 October 1996
Term end 521 July 2009
Predecessor 5Constituency established
Successor 5Hidesaburo Kawamura
Constituency 6Miyazaki 2nd
Term start 66 July 1986
Term end 618 June 1993
Predecessor 6Osanori Koyama
Successor 6Seat abolished
Birth date7 June 1943 (age 83)
Birth placeKobayashi, Miyazaki, Japan
PartyIndependent (since 2021)
Other partyLDP (1986–2010)
SPJ (2010–2012)
JRP (2012–2014)
PJK (2014–2017)
KnT (2017–2021)
SpouseKyoko Nakayama
Alma materUniversity of Tokyo

Nariaki Nakayama (中山 成彬, Nakayama Nariaki) is a Japanese politician who has served as leader of Kibō no Tō from 2019 to 2021. He served as Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in the Cabinet of Junichiro Koizumi and later as Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism under Tarō Asō.

After only four days in office he resigned due to a series of gaffes. Appointed on 24 September 2008, he resigned on 28 September 2008.[1] After being de-endorsed by the LDP he lost his seat in the 2009 general election, eventually returning to the diet as a member of the Japan Restoration Party in the 2012 general election. He lost his seat again in the 2014 general election.

Nakayama's beliefs have been met with controversy, and have been characterized as historical revisionism. He denies the Nanjing Massacre and has pushed to censor textbook mentions of comfort women.

Background

Nakayama graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo in 1966, and then joined the Ministry of Finance. In 1986 he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time, and in September 2004, he became the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. He is married to Kyoko Nakayama, also a conservative politician.

Conservative positions

Nakayama is affiliated with the Nippon Kaigi, a revisionist, ultra-nationalist organization.[2] When he was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, Nakayama was prominent in efforts to censor sections of junior high textbooks in Japan that made references to comfort women. As of 2013, he continued to deny that women were forced to work in brothels during wartime.[3] He claims that the Nanjing Massacre was a complete fabrication, was a supporter of right-wing filmmaker Satoru Mizushima's 2007 film The Truth about Nanjing, which denied that the massacre ever occurred.[4]

During the first administration of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, Nakayama made efforts to revise the Kono statement of 1993.[5] He has continued to express right-wing conservative visions of history.[6][7][8]

As a four-day cabinet minister

In the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso, appointed on 24 September 2008, Nakayama was appointed as Minister of Construction and Transport.[9] He made several controversial statements since his appointment, such as saying: "I will stand at the forefront to destroy the Japan Teachers' Union, which is a cancer for Japanese education". In a press conference related to his Minister of Tourism portfolio, he declared that Japan is basically "ethnically homogeneous," which greatly angered the Ainu, an indigenous ethnic minority living mostly in Northern Japan.[10] He also said that Japanese people "do not like nor desire foreigners". He resigned on 27 September 2008.[11]

Loss of LDP confidence and loss of lower house seat

In the 2009 general election the LDP was reluctant to run Nakayama as a candidate. He ran as an independent and lost his seat.[12]

Move to the Sunrise Party of Japan, Japan Restoration Party, and Party for Future Generations

On 21 June 2010 Nakayama and his wife Kyoko announced that they would move from the Liberal Democratic Party to the Sunrise Party of Japan.[12] He ran for the House of Councilors in the July 11 2010 election, but was not elected.[13] The Sunrise Party became part of the Japan Restoration Party, and Nariaki returned to the Diet in the 2012 general election. When Shintaro Ishihara's group left that party to form the Party for Future Generations he and his wife went too. He lost his seat again in the 2014 general election.

References

  1. ^ "中山交通相２８日に辞任へ (Transport Minister Nakayama to resign on the 28th)". NHK News. 27 September 2008. Archived from the original on 28 September 2008. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  2. ^ "Pro-Yasukuni lineup features Aso Cabinet" - Japan Press Weekly - Sept 24, 2008
  3. ^ Japan Times Forcibly recruited Korean sex slaves a myth: lawmaker June 8, 2014 Retrieved March 25, 2015
  4. ^ The Japan Times NANJING MASSACRE 70TH ANNIVERSARY 6 December 2007 Retrieved 21 August 2012
  5. ^ Reiji Yoshida (11 March 2007). "Sex slave history erased from texts; '93 apology next?". The Japan Times. Retrieved 18 November 2007.
  6. ^ J. Hongo, Lawmaker alleges sex-slave denial censored, Japan Times 15 March 2013; Hashimoto's plan to apologize to former 'comfort women' goes awry, Mainichi Shimbun 25 May 2013.
  7. ^ Japan Times Forcibly recruited Korean sex slaves a myth: lawmaker The Japan Times. 9 June 2013
  8. ^ The Point Awake Peace-addicted Japanese! Archived 2017-01-18 at the Wayback Machine 21 July 2013
  9. ^ "Aso elected premier / Announces Cabinet lineup himself; poll likely on Nov. 2" Archived 28 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 25 September 2008.
  10. ^ "New Japanese minister in hot seat after gaffes", Reuters, 27 September 2008.
  11. ^ The Japan Times Gaffe-prone Nakayama quits Cabinet 29 September 2008 Retrieved 21 August 2012
  12. ^ The Japan Times Nakayamas go with Tachiagare Nippon 22 June 2010 Retrieved 21 August 2012
  13. ^ Ourcampaigns.com Our Elections - Sunrise Party Retrieved 21 August 2012