Arfiya Eri
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Arfiya Eri | |||||||
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英利 アルフィヤ | |||||||
.jpg) Official portrait, 2025 | |||||||
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| Assumed office 23 April 2023 | |||||||
| Preceded by | Kentaro Sonoura | ||||||
| Constituency | Chiba 5th (2023–2024) PR block (2024–2026) Chiba 5th (2026–present) | ||||||
| Personal details | |||||||
| Born | 16 October 1988 Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan | ||||||
| Party | Liberal Democratic | ||||||
| Alma mater | Georgetown University | ||||||
| Website | eri-arfiya.jp | ||||||
| Japanese name | |||||||
| Kanji | 英利 アルフィヤ | ||||||
| Hiragana | えり あるふぃあ | ||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 英利·阿丽菲亚 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 英利·阿麗菲亞 | ||||||
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| Uyghur name | |||||||
| Uyghur | ئارفىيە ئابلەت | ||||||
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| Uzbek name | |||||||
| Uzbek | Arfiya Ablat / Арфия Аблат | ||||||
Arfiya Eri[note 1] (born 16 October 1988[1]), also known by her Uyghur name Arfiye Ablet,[note 2] is a Japanese politician of Uyghur and Uzbek descent. She is a member of the House of Representatives for the Liberal Democratic Party.
Early life and education
She was born to a Uyghur father and Uzbek mother in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture. She moved to Shanghai at age 10 and Guangzhou at age 11 due to her father's work relocation, and attended the Shanghai American School and the American International School of Guangzhou, where she was elected president of the student body. She graduated from Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service and Graduate School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C.
Political career
Eri previously spent time as an official for the Bank of Japan and the United Nations.[2]
She ran unsuccessfully as an LDP candidate in the 2022 Japanese House of Councillors election.[3] In April 2023, she was elected to the Japanese House of Representatives in a by-election for Chiba's 5th district.[4]
Eri supported fellow Georgetown alumni Taro Kono, the then Minister for Digital Transformation, in the 2024 LDP presidential election, which Shigeru Ishiba ultimately won.[5] She was appointed Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs as part of Ishiba's cabinet in November 2024.[6]
Personal life
Eri's first language is Japanese, but she is also able to communicate in English, Chinese, Uzbek, Turkish and Uyghur with considerable fluency, along with a basic level of proficiency in Arabic.[better source needed][7][8]