Gen Nakatani

Gen Nakatani
Gen Nakatani
中谷元
	Official portrait, 2024
Minister of Defense
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 1 October 2024
Prime Minister	Shigeru Ishiba
Preceded by	Minoru Kihara
	In office; 24 December 2014 – 3 August 2016
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe
Preceded by	Akinori Eto
Succeeded by	Tomomi Inada
Director-General of the Japan Defense Agency
	In office; 4 April 2001 – 30 September 2002
Prime Minister	Yoshirō Mori; Junichiro Koizumi
Preceded by	Toshitsugu Saito
Succeeded by	Shigeru Ishiba
Member of the House of Representatives
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 19 February 1990
Constituency	Kōchi at-large (1990–1996); Kōchi 2nd (1996–2014); Kōchi 1st (2014–present)
Personal details
Born	14 October 1957 (age 67); Kōchi, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Alma mater	National Defense Academy
Military service
Allegiance	Japan
Branch/service	Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
Years of service	1980–1984
Rank	First Lieutenant

Gen Nakatani (中谷元, Nakatani Gen, born 14 October 1957) is a Japanese politician who was Director General of the Japan Defense Agency (now Japan Ministry of Defense) in the first cabinet of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2001-2002 and was appointed the Minister of Defense by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2014.^[1]^[2] Nakatani was again named to the position of Minister of Defense for the cabinet of Shigeru Ishiba in 2024.^[3]

Early life and education

Nakatani was born in Kōchi and attended the National Defense Academy of Japan. He served for four years as a commissioned officer in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (20th Infantry Regiment and Airborne Training Unit).

Political career

Nakatani first ran for elected office as a Liberal Democratic Party candidate in the 1990 general election and won one of five seats representing Kōchi Prefecture, and held this seat in the 1993 general election. Following electoral reform in 1994 that divided Kōchi into three single-member districts, he successfully contested the Kōchi 2nd district in the 1996 general election and held this seat until the 2014 general election, when he switched to the Kōchi 1st district; the abolishment of the Kōchi 3rd district required the Liberal Democratic Party's Kōchi members to switch seats so that they could all remain in office. Yuji Yamamoto, who had held the 3rd district since 1996, switched to the 2nd district. Meanwhile Teru Fukui, who had held the 1st district since 1996, switched to the Shikoku proportional representation block.

Nakatani supported Koichi Kato and Taku Yamasaki's no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori in 2000, and was appointed to head the Japan Defense Agency under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in the following year.

On 28 April 2015, Nakatani was among the guests invited to the state dinner hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama in Abe’s honor at the White House.^[4]

Political positions

In a joint letter initiated by Norbert Röttgen and Anthony Gonzalez ahead of the 47th G7 summit in 2021, Nakatani joined some 70 legislators from Europe and the US in calling upon their leaders to take a tough stance on China and to "avoid becoming dependent" on the country for technology including artificial intelligence and 5G.^[5]

Notes

References

^ Ko Shu-ling; J. Michael Cole (6 October 2010). "Security experts warn on China threat". Taipei Times. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
^ Sachiko Sakamaki; Takashi Hirokawa (26 May 2009). "Japan Should Consider Pre-emptive Strikes, LDP Lawmaker Says". Bloomberg. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
^ "New Japan cabinet: Kato to be named finance minister, Iwaya as foreign minister". Nikkei Asia. 30 September 2024.
^ Veronica Toney (28 April 2015), Complete guest list for the state dinner honoring Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Washington Post.
^ Stuart Lau (January 25, 2021), G7 lawmakers tell leaders to ‘stand up’ to China Politico Europe.

Political offices
Preceded by Akinori Eto	Minister of Defense 2014–2016	Succeeded by Tomomi Inada
Preceded by Minoru Kihara	Minister of Defense 2024–present	Incumbent