Sumio Mabuchi

Sumio Mabuchi (馬淵 澄夫, Mabuchi Sumio, born 23 August 1960) is a Japanese politician and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).

Sumio Mabuchi
馬淵 澄夫
Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
In office 17 September 2010 – 14 January 2011
Prime Minister	Naoto Kan
Preceded by	Seiji Maehara
Succeeded by	Akihiro Ohata
Member of the House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 February 2019
Preceded by	Shinji Tarutoko
Constituency	Kinki PR
In office 9 November 2003 – 28 September 2017
Preceded by	Masahiro Morioka
Succeeded by	Shigeki Kobayashi
Constituency	Nara 1st
Personal details
Born	23 August 1960 Nara, Japan
Political party	Independent
Other political affiliations	Kibō (2017) DP (2016–2017) DPJ (2000–2016)
Alma mater	Yokohama National University
Website	Official website

Early life and education

A native of Nara, Mabuchi was born on 23 August 1960.[1] He holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, which he received from Yokohama National University in March 1984.[2]

Career

Until 2000, Mabuchi worked in private sector and became director of the firm he was working for at age 32.[3] He was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2003 after an unsuccessful run in 2000.[4] He was appointed senior vice minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism in September 2009.[2]

On 17 September 2010, Mabuchi was named as the new minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism in the reshuffled Naoto Kan cabinet.[5] Mabuchi left prime minister Kan's cabinet on 14 January 2011,[6] after the then-opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) passed a censure motion against him following the leaking of Japanese Coast Guard footage of the 2010 Senkaku boat collision incident. and ran unsuccessfully to replace him in the DPJ presidential election after Kan stepped down, losing to Yoshihiko Noda, who replaced Kan as Prime Minister.[4] After the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a major defeat to the LDP under Noda at 2012 Japanese general election. Noda resigned to accept responsibility for the defeat.[7]

The resulting DPJ presidential election was held on 25 December 2012, which was contested by Mabuchi and Banri Kaieda. It was won by Kaieda with 90 votes to Mabuchi's 54 votes.[8][9]

Mabuchi continued to hold his seat until he was narrowly defeated in the 2017 general election.[10] He had the highest ratio of margin of defeat (sekihairitsu) (97.27%) among all defeated candidates in the election.[11] Mabuchi returned to the House in February 2019 after the resignation of Shinji Tarutoko, who was contesting the Osaka 12th district by-election. Being the candidate with the next largest sekihairitsu in Kibō no Tō's 2017 Kinki proportional representation list, Mabuchi was next in line to fill Tarutoko's PR seat. Mabuchi chose to sit as an independent.[12]

Nickname

Mabuchi is a bodybuilder, and has been nicknamed "The Terminator".[4][13] On the other hand, he calls himself "lone gorilla".[3]

Personal life

Mabuchi is married and has six children, five of whom are girls.[3] His sparetime activities include surfing and cooking.[3]

References

1. "Sumio Mabuchi". DPJ. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
2. "Sumio Mabuchi CV" (PDF). Japan Transport. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
3. Tsuzaka, Naoki (23 August 2011). "'Lone gorilla' draws support from junior lawmakers". The Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
4. Johnston, Eric, "Contenders' backgrounds", Japan Times, 28 August 2011, p. 2.
5. "Kan replaces over half of his Cabinet". Kyodo News. 17 September 2010. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
6. "Japan PM adds new faces to cabinet in reshuffle". Agence France-Presse. 14 January 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
7. Mainichi Shimbun PM Noda to quit as DPJ chief after electoral disaster 17 December 2012
8. Daily Yomiuri Kaieda elected new DPJ leader 26 December 2012
9. Japan Times Kaieda takes DPJ helm; Ozawa overture hinted 26 December 2012
10. 小選挙区開票速報：奈良県（定数3） (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
11. "比例区開票速報：近畿ブロック（定数28）" (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
12. "比例東海・近畿　青山氏と馬淵氏、繰り上げ当選に）" (in Japanese). Mainichi Shimbun. 5 February 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
13. Reuters Japan can't reject nuclear power out of hand: lawmaker 5 July 2011

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