Seiichi Ota

Seiichi Ōta (太 田 诚 一Japanese, Seiichi Ōta, born October 30, 1945 in Fukuoka ) is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP). He was until 2009 a Member of the Shūgiin, the House of Commons, and was from August to September 2008, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the cabinet. Within the LDP, he belonged to the Koga faction.

Life

After visiting the Keio high school he studied at the Faculty of Economics, Keio University. After graduating in 1968 he continued his studies there initially continued. In 1973 he became a lecturer at the University of Fukuoka, a year later he was a guest lecturer at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Iceland.

Then moved Ōta in politics: After a failed attempt in 1979, he was elected in 1980 for the LDP to Shūgiin, where he afterwards among others belonged to the Department of Justice and the Budget Committee. In 1988 he was Parliamentary Secretary ( " seimujikan ") in the Ministry of Finance. 1994 Ōta left the LDP and participated in the establishment of the short-lived Liberal Party, which merged in the Shinshinto of Ichirō Ozawa in December. In 1995, he left them and returned a few months later back in the LDP. From 1998 to 1999 he was head of the Department of Management and co-ordination for the first time under Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.

2003, he put on a symposium on the problem of declining birth rates following, relating to a previous gang rape case statement: " group rapists are still vital and that's good. Are they so no closer to normality? " (「集団レイプする人は、まだ元気があるからいい。まだ正常に近いんじゃないか」, O suru hito wa Shudan Reipu mada genki ga aru kara ii. Mada Seijo ni chikain janai ka) and came under heavy public pressure. Shortly thereafter, Ōta lost at the 2003 election Shūgiin his constituency Fukuoka 7, which also includes parts of the city of Fukuoka, the Democratic challenger Kazue Fujita. In 2005 he was able to win him back with a clear lead of over 30,000 votes and thus drew the eighth time in a Shūgiin. In 2006 he was appointed "acting chairman " ( KAICHÔ Daiko ) of the Koga faction. In the reshuffle in August 2008, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda appointed him as Minister of Agriculture.

In August 2008, Irregularities in campaign finance is one of OTAs offices were established. 2007 his predecessor, the Ministry of Agriculture Matsuoka, Akagi and Endō had resigned because of similar allegations and had finished their life.

September 19, 2008 Ōta handed along with Secretary of State ( jimujikan ) Toshirō Shirasu his resignation to take responsibility for a scandal involving sale and processing of non intended for human consumption of rice. Imported rice from China, Vietnam and the United States, which was contaminated with the pesticide methamidophos and intended for industrial purposes, was put on the market. The scandal was followed by a series of similar cases of contaminated imported foods, especially from the People's Republic of China.

Family

OTAs father Kamei Hikaru was 1967-1983 Governor of Fukuoka Prefecture, his cousin Kiyoko is the wife of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. His grandfather Ōta Seizo was a deputy in the lower house for the Rikken Seiyūkai and later a member of the manor.