- Nariaki Nakayama
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Nariaki Nakayama (2008)
Nariaki Nakayama (中山 成彬 Nakayama Nariaki, born June 7, 1943) is a Japanese politician. 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 Taro Aso. Due to a series of gaffes after assuming his post under Aso, he resigned September 28, 2008.[1]
Graduating from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo in 1966, Nakayama 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.
Nakayama, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, has led the fight to censor sections of junior high textbooks in Japan that make references to Japan's wartime sex slaves. He claims that the Nanjing Massacre was a complete fabrication, and is currently making efforts to revise the Kono statement of 1993.[2]
In the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso, appointed on 24 September 2008, Nakayama was appointed as Minister of Construction and Transport.[3] He made several controversial statements since his appointment that included calling the Japan Teachers' Union "a cancer for Japan's education system" and in the same speech said that "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.[4]
References
- ^ NHK News (2008-09-27). "中山交通相２８日に辞任へ (Transport Minister Nakayama to resign on the 28th)". http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/t10014383081000.html. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
- ^ Reiji Yoshida (2007-03-11). "Sex slave history erased from texts; '93 apology next?". The Japan Times Online. The Japan Times. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070311f1.html. Retrieved 2007-11-18.
- ^ "Aso elected premier / Announces Cabinet lineup himself; poll likely on Nov. 2", The Yomiuri Shimbun, 25 September 2008.
- ^ "New Japanese minister in hot seat after gaffes", Reuters News Service, 27, September 2008.
External links
- Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Technology Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet
Third Realigned Koizumi Cabinet
(2005-10-31)Secretary Shinzo Abe Internal Affairs Heizō Takenaka Justice Seiken Sugiura Foreign Affairs Taro Aso Finance Sadakazu Tanigaki Education Kenji Kosaka Health Jirō Kawasaki Agriculture Shoichi Nakagawa Economy Toshihiro Nikai Land Kazuo Kitagawa Environment Yuriko Koike Defense Fukushiro Nukaga Ministers of State Tetsuo Kutsukake, Kaoru Yosano, Koki Chuma, Iwao Matsuda, Kuniko Inoguchi Political offices Preceded by
Sadakazu TanigakiMinister of Land，Infrastructure，Transport and Tourism of Japan
2008 - 2008Succeeded by
Kazuyoshi KanekoPreceded by
Takeo KawamuraMinister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan
2004 - 2005Succeeded by
Kenji KosakaCategories:- Government ministers of Japan
- 1943 births
- Living people
- People from Miyazaki Prefecture
- University of Tokyo alumni
- Spouses of Japanese politicians
- Members of the House of Representatives of Japan
- Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians
- Nanking Massacre deniers
- Japanese politician, 1940s birth stubs
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