Jin Matsubara
Japanese politician (born 1956)
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Jin Matsubara (松原 仁, Matsubara Jin; born 31 July 1956) is a Japanese politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). He was appointed Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety and Minister for the Abduction Issue. Matsubara was formerly affiliated with Party of Hope and the Democratic Party (the Democratic Party of Japan).
Jin Matsubara | |
|---|---|
松原 仁 | |
Official portrait, 2011 | |
| Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission | |
| In office 13 January 2012 – 1 October 2012 | |
| Prime Minister | Yoshihiko Noda |
| Preceded by | Kenji Yamaoka |
| Succeeded by | Tadamasa Kodaira |
| Minister for the Abduction Issue | |
| In office 13 January 2012 – 1 October 2012 | |
| Prime Minister | Yoshihiko Noda |
| Preceded by | Kenji Yamaoka |
| Succeeded by | Keishu Tanaka |
| |
| In office 25 June 2000 – 23 January 2026 | |
| Preceded by | Shinichiro Kurimoto |
| Succeeded by | Ueki Imaoka |
| Constituency | See list
|
| Member of Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly | |
| In office 1989–1996 | |
| Constituency | Ōta Ward |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 松原仁 (Matsubara Jin) 31 July 1956 |
| Party | Independent (1986–1990; 2023–present) |
Other political affiliations | NLC (1985–1986) LDP (1990–1994) NFP (1994–1996) Sun (1996–1998) GGP (1998) DPJ (1998–2016) DP (2016–2017) KnT (2017–2018) GOI (2018–2020) CDP (2020–2023) |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Waseda University |
| Website | Official Website |
Political career
In the first cabinet reshuffle of Democratic Party Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on 13 January 2012 he was appointed Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety and Minister for the Abduction Issue.[1] He left the cabinet on the 1 October 2012 cabinet reshuffle. Tadamasa Kodaira replaced him as Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission and Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety, and Keishu Tanaka took over as Minister for the Abduction Issue.[2]
Personal life
Views on Second Sino-Japanese War and the Second World War
He was a supporter of right-wing filmmaker Satoru Mizushima's 2007 denialist film The Truth about Nanjing, which denied that the Nanjing Massacre ever occurred.[5] In 2014 he refused to retract his comments denying the massacre.[6]
During Diet discussions of Japanese government efforts to clean up chemical weapons abandoned in China at the end of the Second World War, Matsubara questioned the existence of such weapons.[7]
On Monday 27 August 2012 Matsubara told a House of Councillors budget committee meeting that he may propose to other ministers a review of the 1993 statement by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yōhei Kōno admitting the Imperial Japanese Army's role in establishing and running "comfort stations" for troops with forcibly recruited comfort women, because "no direct descriptions of forcible recruitment have been found in military and other Japanese official records obtained by the government."[8]
Visit to Yasukuni shrine
On 15 August 2012, Matsubara, along with Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Yuichiro Hata became the first cabinet ministers of the DPJ to openly visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine since the party came to power in 2009. Matsubara made his visit to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the end of World War II despite requests from South Korea Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to refrain from doing so.[9][10]