Masahiko Shibayama

Masahiko Shibayama (柴山 昌彦, Shibayama Masahiko, born December 5, 1965) is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). Extreme right. A member of the Anti free-speech working group.

Masahiko Shibayama
柴山 昌彦
Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
In office 2 October 2018 – 11 September 2019
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Yoshimasa Hayashi
Succeeded by	Kōichi Hagiuda
Personal details
Born	5 December 1965 Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Alma mater	University of Tokyo

He was born in Nagoya, Aichi and grew up in Saitama Prefecture. He graduated from the University of Tokyo and joined Sumitomo Real Estate in 1990, but resigned thereafter to study for the Japanese bar examination, which he passed in 1998. In 2000, he was admitted as an attorney and joined the Toranomon Chuo Law Firm in Tokyo.[1]

He was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2004, in a special election in Saitama to replace Masanori Arai, who had been arrested for campaign finance violations. He was re-elected the following year in the Japanese general election. In 2008, he was named Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and maintained this post under the cabinet of Taro Aso.[1]

Shibayama lost his Saitama seat to a DPJ candidate in the 2009 general election, but picked up a Kanto bloc seat and remained a member of the House of Representatives. After the LDP returned to power in the 2012 general election, he was named Senior Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications in the second Shinzo Abe cabinet.[1] He also serves as a "special advisor" to the prime minister, acting as a spokesman for the Abe government with regard to its fiscal stimulus policies,[2] and argued in 2016 that "doubling the number of foreign workers [in Japan] cannot be avoided in this global market situation."[3]

Shibayama is married and has one daughter.[1]

References

1. "プロフィール". しばやま昌彦オフィシャルウェブサイト (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
2. "'Too Early' for Further BOJ Stimulus, Abe Aide Shibayama Says". Bloomberg.com. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
3. Reynolds, Isabel; Roman, David (23 September 2016). "Japan grows more open to foreign workers as population declines". The Japan Times Online. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 17 April 2017.

External links

• Official website in Japanese.