Japan New Party
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Sōka, Saitama and graduate of Waseda University, he was elected to the city assembly of Sōka in 1970 (serving for one term) and then to the first of his four terms as the mayor of Sōka in 1977. He was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1993 as a member of the Japan New Party. After becoming a member of the New Frontier Party, he joined the LDP.