Takeshi Shina

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Shina was born in Morioka, Iwate.^[1] He graduated from Shizukuishi Elementary School, Shizukuishi Junior High School [ja], and Morioka First High School. After 2 years of studying for entrance exams, he applied and entered the University of Tokyo. He was a member of the baseball teams in high school and university, and pitched for Tokyo's baseball team. In 1991, he graduated from the University of Tokyo Law and Politics School,^[2] and joined the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan (now the SBI Shinsei Bank). He worked in corporate sales and market departments, and became assistant general manager of the General Finance department and assistant general manager of the legal department, but the bank went bankrupt in 1998 and reformed into the SBI Shinsei Bank.

He then passed the bar exam while still employed, completed his legal training, and registered with the Tokyo Bar Association. He became deputy chief of the legal department at Shinsei Bank.

In 2007, he ran as the Democratic Party endorsed candidate in the Iwate 1st district by-election following the candidacy of his High School and University senior, Takuya Tasso, for the Governorship of Iwate. He defeated Masanori Tamazawa of the LDP by a wide margin.

He was re-elected in the 2009 election that saw the DPJ be swept into power. He was appointed Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications in the Hatoyama Cabinet alongside Junya Ogawa and Kensei Hasegawa.^[3] He was reappointed in the new Kan Cabinet.

He was once considered a close ally of Ichiro Ozawa. Following the arrest of Tomohiro Ishikawa, who was Ozawa's close aide and secretary, Shina joined the "Group to Consider the Arrest of Representative Tomohiro Ishikawa" [ja], a parliamentary grouping which seeked to protect Ozawa from arrest following the Rikuzankai Incident [jp], a corruption scandal involving Ozawa. Ozawa explained himself in a Budget Committee meeting on 26 January 2010, saying that "I have to consider this from the perspective of a Diet member. I have immunity from arrest. It's a natural responsibility."^[4] However, relations between Ozawa and Shina quickly deteriorated following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and he refused to join the People's Life First party that Ozawa founded in 2011.^[5]

In September 2011, he became the Chairman of the DPJ's Financial Statements and Administrative Oversight Committee, and in December, he became Chair of the DPJ's Administrative Reform Research Committee.^[6]

In the controversy that surrounded the Noda Cabinet's raise of the consumption tax, he decided to resign as Deputy Chair of the DPJ's Policy Research Council on 30 March 2012.^[7] The resignation was accepted at the party's executive meeting on 23 April.^[8] In the proceeding vote on the tax raise on 26 June, he voted against it, opposing the official stance of the DPJ.^[9][10] A notice of resignation from the party was later submitted through Kenji Yamaoka and other representatives who defected on the vote came through on 2 July,^[11] but Shina refused to leave the party, saying "It was submitted without my consent. I intend to remain in the party."^{[12][13][14][15][16]} It was later confirmed that Yamaoka submitted the letter without final confirmation from Shina.^[17][18] At an standing executive committee meeting on 3 July, Takeshi was reprimanded with a 2 month long suspension from the party.^{[19][20][21][22][23]} The decision was confirmed on 9 July.^[24][25][26]

He held his district in the 2012 Japanese general election, winning against Hinako Takahashi of the LDP, who had run against him in 2009, and Yōko Tasso of the Tomorrow Party of Japan, the wife of his friend and Governor of Iwate Takuya Tasso. Tasso had followed Ichiro Ozawa into the PLF and TPJ. In fact, Ozawa campaigned personally for Tasso in Iwate 1st. The bitter election widened the feud that had spawned out of the Rikuzankai incident between Shina and Ozawa.^[27] Takahashi was revived proportionally.

In the December 2012 DPJ leadership election, he supported Banri Kaieda. He was appointed head of the Democratic Party executive office under Secretary-General Goshi Hosono following Kaieda's victory. He won again in 2014 election with a majority against Takahashi, who was revived proportionally again.^[28] He was appointed NEXT Minister for Administrative Reform & Reform in the Cabinet Office following the 2015 Democratic Party leadership election.

In September 2016, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party Policy Research Council and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary in the NEXT Cabinet under Renhō. In September 2017, he was appointed Chairman of the Democratic Party's Policy Research Council.^[29] He folded with the party into Kibō no Tō and won by a similar margin as 2014 during the 2017 election. Takahashi was again proportionally revived.^[30]

On 7 May 2018, he joined the DPP, following the merger of Kibo no To and the Democratic Party together.^[31] He was appointed chair of the Policy Research Council before resigning from the office on 11 September.^[32]

On 11 May 2019, at the Iwate Prefectural Federation meeting of the DPP, he announced his intention to leave the DPP with Toru Kikawada, the Prefectural Federation representative, and other members. He cited the merger of the DPP and Ichiro Ozawa's Liberal Party and the decision by the DPP to run a member of Ozawa's party for the upcoming 2019 Councillor elections in Iwate's district, Takanori Yokozawa.^[33] He officially submitted his resignation two days later,^[34] and it was accepted by the party on the 29th, making him an independent.^[35]

He expressed his intention to join the newly merged form of the CDP, DPP, and SDP in July 2020.^[36] In the leadership election following, he was a supporter of Kenta Izumi.^[37]

It was revealed later that year in October that the Iwate Prefectural Federation of the CDP, led by Ichiro Ozawa, had filed a lawsuit against Shina in the Morioka District Court, seeking 33 million yen (roughly 300,000 USD) in damages. According to Ozawa, before Shina had left the DPP in 2019, he transferred money from the Iwate Prefectural Federation to the political school Shina was a representative of.^[38] The feud between Ozawa and Shina had grown to a large degree, and Shina was even denied entrance to the founding meeting of the CDP's Iwate Prefectural Federation.^[39]

The feud came to a head in the process of fielding candidates for the 2021 election, when Ozawa and the Iwate Federation decided to endorse newcomer and freelance announcer Rie Sano for Iwate 1st instead of Shina. Iwate governor Takuya Tasso recommended Sano as well, calling Sano the "Rey to Shina and us older generation's Luke Skywalker." This was protested bitterly by Shina.^[40][41]

The feud between Shina and Ozawa had deepened to such a degree that party headquarters were forced to overrule Ozawa and the Prefectural Federation, and once the snap election was called, it was confirmed on 12 October that Shina would run for the 1st district himself with Sano instead being ranked 18th on the proportional block as a purely proportional candidate.^[42] On 13 October, the Japanese Communist Party confirmed it would withdraw 22 candidates where it was competing with the CDP. Iwate 1st was not one of them, however, and newcomer Kyoko Yoshida was announced as the candidate for the party.^[43]

In the election later that month, Shina won by a similar margin as in 2017. This time, however, Takahashi was not proportionally revived. Sano also lost on the proportional block.^[44][45] Ozawa lost Iwate's 3rd in 2021 and was revived proportionally, which left Shina as the only CDP member representing Iwate in single member districts.

He supported his fellow former Vice-Minister Junya Ogawa in the 2021 CDP leadership election.^[46]

The lawsuit headed by Ozawa against Shina came to a head in June 2022, when the Prefectural Federation attempted to withdraw the lawsuit. Shina declined the request, and instead kept the case in the courts. Eventually, Shina was cleared of all legal liability, and it was ruled that the DPP Prefectural Federation had consented to the transfer of the funds.^[47][48]

Shina was appointed the Shadow Minister of Finance in the Next Cabinet of Kenta Izumi when it was re-established on 13 September 2022. He was re-elected in the 2024 election and captured 60% of the vote, an increase of nearly 10%. He defeated newcomer Hiromasa Yonai of the LDP who was not proportionally revived and Kyoko Yoshida, who ran again for the JCP.^[49]

Shina met with Sumio Mabuchi on 2 September 2025, and formed a new parliamentary group, the Kinseikai. It was a merger of the groups previously led by Mabuchi and the Jiseikai by Shina, with both co-leading the new grouping.^[50][51] Following the merger of the CDP and Komeito into the Centrist Reform Alliance, Shina joined the new political party, and ran in the 2026 Japanese general election. Shina ended up defeating Hiromasa Yonai by a margin of roughly 5000 votes, meaning a 4% margin. Yonai was revived proportionally, and Shina became one of the "seven samurai" of the CRA to win their districts. Ichiro Ozawa was defeated in the election, and was not proportionally revived, meaning that for the first time ever Ozawa would not be sitting in parliament with Shina.^[52]