Riki Kawara

Riki Kawara
瓦 力
Official portrait, 1997
Director-General of the Japan Defense Agency
In office 5 October 1999 – 4 July 2000
Prime Minister	Keizō Obuchi
Preceded by	Hosei Norota
Succeeded by	Kazuo Torashima
In office 6 November 1987 – 24 August 1988
Prime Minister	Noboru Takeshita
Preceded by	Kurihara Yoshiyuki
Succeeded by	Kichirō Tazawa
Minister of Construction
In office 11 September 1997 – 30 July 1998
Prime Minister	Ryutaro Hashimoto
Preceded by	Shizuka Kamei
Succeeded by	Katsutsugu Sekiya
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary (Political affairs)
In office 17 July 1980 – 30 November 1981
Prime Minister	Zenkō Suzuki
Preceded by	Koichi Kato
Succeeded by	Yukihiko Ikeda
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 10 December 1972 – 21 July 2009
Constituency	Ishikawa 2nd (1972–1996) Ishikawa 3rd (1996–2005) Hokuriku-Shin'etsu PR (2005–2009)
Personal details
Born	(1937-04-01)1 April 1937 Nanao, Ishikawa, Japan
Died	13 January 2013(2013-01-13) (aged 75) Nanao, Ishikawa, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Alma mater	Chuo University

Tsutomu Kawara (瓦 力, Kawara Tsutomu, 1 April 1937 – 13 January 2013) was a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Biography

Kawara was a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Nanao, Ishikawa and graduate of Chuo University, he was elected for the first time in 1972. In 1987, he assumed the post of Director General of the Japan Defense Agency (and again in 1999 to 2000). He resigned a year later after taking responsibility for the Nadashio incident. Kichirō Tazawa replaced him in the post.

He was later appointed construction minister in the Hashimoto cabinet. He retired from politics in 2009. He died in Nanao, Ishikawa, in early January 2013 of pneumonia.