Marutei Tsurunen

Marutei Tsurunen (Japanese弦 念 丸 呈, Tsurunen Marutei, usually in Katakanaツルネン マル テイ; born April 30, 1940 in North Karelia, Finland Martti Turunen ) is a Japanese politician and MP in the Sangiin, the House of Lords, for the Democratic Party of Japan ( DPJ ). He was the first Western Japanese descent in the Japanese parliament.

Life

Tsurunen came in 1967 as a Lutheran missionary to Japan. In 1974 he left the missionary service and worked in a Eikaiwa School and as a translator. He received Japanese citizenship in 1979.

His political career began in 1992 when he was elected to the municipal council of Yugawara in Kanagawa Prefecture. After three years he resigned to run in the 1995 election for Sangiin - Kanagawa ( three seats per election ) as an Independent. With about 340,000 votes he received the fourth-highest share of the vote. When Sangiin - election 1998 candidate Tsurunen again, received over half a million votes and missed third place by just under 10,000 votes. After that Tsurunen tried - now as a candidate of the DPJ - a seat in the Shūgiin, the lower house: In 2000 he was defeated in the 17th constituency Kanagawa Yohei Kono significantly (LDP ).

In the 2001 election, he ran Sangiin on the proportional representation list of the DPJ, but received only about 160,000 of the newly introduced preferential vote and the ninth- highest share of the vote on the DPJ list. The DPJ were to only eight proportional representation seats. It was not until 2002, when the DPJ MPs Kyosen Ōhashi resigned, he became the substitutes jump into Parliament. At the election of the DPJ in 2007 Tsurunen received nearly a quarter million preference votes - ranked sixth among the DPJ candidates list - and was re-elected for another six years.

In Sangiin he was also a member of the Environment Committee and the Committee on Okinawa and Northern Areas. In DPJ shadow cabinet from 2007 Tsurunen was provided as Secretary of State in the Ministry of Environment. In 2010 he became chairman of the Sangiin Special Committee on Civil Protection.

In the 2013 election Sangiin Tsurunen received 82,858 preferential votes, 12th place on the list of the Democratic Party, and thus lost his seat because the Democrats tion states only seven proportional seats.

Works

  • Aoi me no Giin ga yuku (青い 目 の 議員 が ゆく). Haru Shobo, Tokyo 1993, ISBN 4-938133-43-1.
  • Nihonjin ni naritai (日本人 に なり たい). Shōdensha, Tokyo 1993, ISBN 4-396-10340-9.
  • Aoi me no kokkai Giin imada tanjōsezu (青い 目 の 国会 議員 いまだ 誕生 せ ず). Benesse Corporation, Tama 1995, ISBN 4-8288-1754-9.
  • Nihonjin Tsurunen Marutei (日本人 ツルネン マル テイ). Mionshin Shuppan, Tokyo 1999, ISBN 4-88701-845-2 (together with Takashi Katō ).
  • " Nekasekiri ROJIN " o tsukuru koku Nihon koku tsukuranai Hoku - Ō ( 「寝かせきり 老人」を つくる 国 日本 つくら ない 国 北欧). Asunaro Shobo, Tokyo 1999, ISBN 4-7515-2043-1 (with Hiroyuki Seki and Mitsugi Yoshida ).
  • Daijobu! (大丈夫). Ishizue, Tokyo 2001, ISBN 4-900747-28-9.
  • Sō there kokkai Giin ni Narou (そう だ,国会 議員 に なろ う). Chūkei Shuppan, Tokyo 2003, ISBN 4-8061-1808-7.
  • Mirai e no Sentaku (未来 へ の 選択). Aibun Shorin, Tokyo, 2004.
  • Nihon ichi Wakari Yasui " Nihon " (日本一 わかり やすい「日本」 ). Asuka Shuppansha, Tokyo 2004, ISBN 4-7569-0788-1.
  • Tsurunen no hito to Chikyu no ecolife (ツルネン の 人 と 地球 の エコ ライフ). Hara Shobo, Tokyo 2008, ISBN 978-4-562-04150-3.
  • Shizen ni shitagau ikikata to NoHo Luomu (自然 に 従う 生き方 と 農法 ルオム). Ebisukōshō Shuppan, Tokyo 2009, ISBN 978-4-86403-008-3 (together with Shigeru Ishii ).
Yugawara, Kanagawa Japanese House of Councillors election, 1998
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