Nobutaka Machimura

Junior Second Rank Nobutaka Machimura
町村 信孝
Official portrait, 2005
Speaker of the House of Representatives
In office 24 December 2014 – 21 April 2015
Monarch	Akihito
Preceded by	Bunmei Ibuki
Succeeded by	Tadamori Oshima
Chief Cabinet Secretary
In office 26 September 2007 – 24 September 2008
Prime Minister	Yasuo Fukuda
Preceded by	Kaoru Yosano
Succeeded by	Takeo Kawamura
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office 27 August 2007 – 26 September 2007
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Tarō Asō
Succeeded by	Masahiko Kōmura
In office 27 September 2004 – 21 September 2005
Prime Minister	Junichiro Koizumi
Preceded by	Yoriko Kawaguchi
Succeeded by	Tarō Asō
Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
In office 6 January 2001 – 26 April 2001
Prime Minister	Yoshirō Mori
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Toyama Atsuko
Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture
In office 5 December 2000 – 6 January 2001
Prime Minister	Yoshirō Mori
Preceded by	Tadamori Ōshima
Succeeded by	Office abolished
In office 11 September 1997 – 30 July 1998
Prime Minister	Ryutaro Hashimoto
Preceded by	Takashi Kosugi
Succeeded by	Akito Arima
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 25 October 2010 – 1 June 2015
Preceded by	Chiyomi Kobayashi
Succeeded by	Yoshiaki Wada
Constituency	Hokkaido 5th
In office 19 December 1983 – 1 October 2010
Constituency	Hokkaido 1st (1983–1996) Hokkaido 5th (1996–2009) Hokkaido PR (2009–2010)
Personal details
Born	(1944-10-17)17 October 1944 Numazu, Japan
Died	1 June 2015(2015-06-01) (aged 70) Tokyo, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Alma mater	University of Tokyo Wesleyan University
Signature

Nobutaka Machimura (町村 信孝, Machimura Nobutaka, 17 October 1944 – 1 June 2015) was a Japanese politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He was Chief Cabinet Secretary in the government of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda from 2007 to 2008 and twice Minister for Foreign Affairs, in the cabinets of Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzō Abe. He resigned as the Speaker of the House of Representatives on 21 April 2015 after suffering from a stroke.

Early life and education

Machimura was born on 17 October 1944. His father was Kingo Machimura the Governor of Hokkaido (1959–1971) and his grandfather was Kinya Machimura one of the founders of Hokkaido's dairy industry. Machimura attended the University of Tokyo and Wesleyan University in the United States.

Career

Nobutaka Machimura and Condoleezza Rice in September 2007

With members of the Yasuo Fukuda Cabinet in September 2007

Machimura with Nancy Pelosi in April 2015

Machimura was elected to his first term in the House of Representatives in the December 1983 election, and he was re-elected in each election since. He became Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture on 11 September 1997, as part of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's second cabinet, and became State Secretary for Foreign Affairs on 31 July 1998, in Keizō Obuchi's first cabinet. In March 2000, he became Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, serving under Obuchi and his successor, Yoshirō Mori. On 5 December 2000, he became Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture and Director-General of the Science and Technology Agency, before becoming Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology on 6 January 2001.

He was the Minister for Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi from 27 September 2004 to 31 October 2005. His goals included signing a treaty with Russia relations with China and Korea form leader resolving a border dispute, and investigating the whereabouts of Japanese hostages who were kidnapped by North Korean agents during the 1970s and 1980s. He was replaced by Tarō Asō in the cabinet reshuffle that followed the 11 September 2005 election.

He was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs again by Prime Minister Shinzō Abe on 27 August 2007. In 2006, Machimura became chairman of the Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai, the LDP's largest faction. As such, on 14 September 2007, he backed Yasuo Fukuda's bid to become Abe's successor, following Abe's resignation on 12 September. Since 2007, Machimura had co-chaired his faction alongside Hidenao Nakagawa and Shūzen Tanigawa.

In Fukuda's government, sworn in on 16 September 2007, Machimura became Chief Cabinet Secretary and State Minister in charge of abduction issues. He was replaced by Takeo Kawamura in the cabinet of prime minister Taro Aso, which was appointed on 24 September 2008.

He was the vice president of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union.

Personal life

On 18 December 2007, Machimura said at an official press conference that he believed in the existence of UFOs.

On 1 June 2015, he died after a cerebral infarction at a hospital in Tokyo.

Honours

• Junior Second Rank (1 June 2015; posthumous)

External links

• Media related to Nobutaka Machimura at Wikimedia Commons