A native of
Kashima, Saga and a graduate of the
University of Tokyo, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1996 after working for the
JR.
Career
Japanese National Railways (employee of Kyusyu Railway Co. after the privatization)
State Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries
Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs
Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
Chairman, Committee on Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
Chairman, Special Committee on Audit and Oversight of Administration
Chairman, Regional Government Promotion Headquarters
Minister of reconstruction for disaster-hit regions
Yasukuni visits and right wing affiliations
On August 11, 2016, one week after joining Prime Minister
Shinzō Abe's cabinet as reconstruction minister for disaster-hit regions, Masahiro Imamura visited the
controversialYasukuni shrine.[1]
In late 2016, hours after Abe and Defense Minister
Tomomi Inada met President
Barack Obama in
Hawaii and Abe expressed 'everlasting condolences' for the casualties of the
1941 attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, Imamura again visited the shrine.[2] The visit garnered "a sharp rebuke from Beijing". Imamura said his visit had “nothing to do with” Abe’s trip and the timing was “a coincidence”, saying he "wished to express gratitude and prayed for Japan’s peace and prosperity".[3]
Imamura is a member of key
right-wing Diet groups:[4]
re-operating the nuclear power plants that meet the new standards of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Masahiro Imamura, who holds rather radical positions about nuclear issues, was until April 26, 2017 the minister in charge of coping with the aftermath of the
Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. He was forced to step down over a remark that he had made the previous day suggesting that it had been better that the 2011 earthquake and tsunami had hit the Tohoku region than the Tokyo region. He has been replaced by Masayoshi Yoshino who had been chairman of the special House of Representatives committee on Tohoku reconstruction.[6]