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Kishirō Nakamura
Kishirō Nakamura
中村喜四郎
	Nakamura in 1989
Minister of Construction
	In office; 12 December 1992 – 9 August 1993
Prime Minister	Kiichi Miyazawa
Preceded by	Taku Yamasaki
Succeeded by	Kozo Igarashi
Director-General of the Science and Technology Agency and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission
	In office; 3 June 1989 – 10 August 1989
Prime Minister	Sōsuke Uno
Preceded by	Moichi Miyazaki
Succeeded by	Eizaburō Saitō
Member of the House of Representatives
	In office; 12 September 2005 – 9 October 2024
Preceded by	Yoji Nagaoka
Succeeded by	Multi-member district
Constituency	Ibaraki 7th (2005–2021); Northern Kanto PR (2021–2024)
	In office; 10 December 1976 – 16 January 2003
Preceded by	Multi-member district
Succeeded by	Yoji Nagaoka
Constituency	Ibaraki 3rd (1976–1996); Ibaraki 7th (1996–2003)
Personal details
Born	10 April 1949 (age 75); Sakai, Ibaraki, Japan
Political party	Constitutional Democratic
Other political; affiliations	Liberal Democratic; New Renaissance
Alma mater	Nihon University

Kishirō Nakamura (中村喜四郎, Nakamura Kishirō, born April 10, 1949) is a former Japanese politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet. A native of Sakai in Ibaraki Prefecture and a graduate of Nihon University, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1976.

After winning 14 elections in a row without a single defeat at the polls, he lost to Keiko Nagaoka in the election of October 21, 2021.^[1]

Biography

Early life

Born in the town of Sakai in Ibaraki, his birth name was Shin Nakamura (中村伸). Both his parents were involved in politics and both became members of the Upper House of the Diet; his father and namesake from 1965 to 1971 and his mother, Tomi Nakamura, from 1972 to 1977. He graduated from Keimei Gakuen High School, a Protestant school in Akishima, Tokyo. In 1972, he graduated from the Nihon University College of Law; prior to graduating, he began working in the office of Kakuei Tanaka, serving as Tanaka's private secretary.^[2] Nakamura would later mimic how Tanaka interacted with his constituents and the contents of his speeches.^[3]

First election and name change

In the 1976 Japanese general election, running as an independent, Nakamura was elected to the House of Representatives for Ibaraki District 3. For the election, he had changed his legal name to Kishiro Nakamura ("Junior"), and thus inherited the support network developed over the years by his father, Kishiro Nakamura ("Senior").^[4] Nakamura later joined the Liberal Democratic Party.

Bribery Conviction

In 1994 Nakamura became involved in a political corruption case concerning construction companies buying favors from lawmakers, known as zenekon oshoku ("general contractor corruption"). Nakamura was arrested suspected of receiving bribes from the Kajima Corporation.^[5] Nakamura left the Liberal Democrats but managed to remain in the Diet throughout several elections by running as an independent while the case was going through the courts. In January 2003 he lost his appeal to the Supreme Court of Japan, his prison sentence was finalized and he lost his Diet seat.^[6]

Reelection & Retirement

Nakamura was released from prison in January 2004. In the 2005 general election he regained his seat in the Ibaraki 7th district and held unto it until 2021. In the 2021 general election he ran as a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party and lost for the first time in his career but managed to gain a seat through the Northern Kanto proportional representation block.

Before the 2024 general election Nakamura announced his retirement from politics. His son Hayato Nakamura ran in his stead and gained his father's old seat in the Ibaraki 7th.

Notes

^ Kano, Mikio (November 2, 2021). "「14勝0敗、無敗の男」なぜ負けた　中村喜四郎氏、奪われた支持層" [After 14 years of invincibility, why did he lose? Kishiro Nakamura's vanishing support base]. The Asahi Shimbun on-line edition (in Japanese). Tokyo. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
^ "田中角栄の"最後の遺伝子"中村喜四郎が沈黙を破った" [Kakuei Tanaka's 'last gene': Kishiro Nakamura breaks his silence]. Shūkan Bunshun. July 7, 2017. Archived from the original on 2014-07-13. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
^ Schlesinger, Jacob (1999). Shadow Shoguns: The Rise and Fall of Japan's Postwar Political Machine. Stanford University Press. p. 116. ISBN 9780804734578.
^ 畠山理仁 (Michiyoshi Hatakeyama) (2017-11-20). "中村喜四郎という男―オレと選挙と中村喜四郎と"選挙の鬼"との12年戦争（１）" [The man called Kishiro Nakamura: 12-year battle of "me" and "elections" and "Kishiro Nakamura" and "election ghosts" (1)]. BLOGOS. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
^ "Once fallen 'election master' finds new role as party unifier". The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 7 December 2024.
^ "Former minister halfway to prison". The Japan Times. Retrieved 7 December 2024.

References

政治家情報〜中村喜四郎〜. ザ･選挙 (in Japanese). JANJAN. Archived from the original on 2007-12-03. Retrieved 2007-10-07.

External links

Official website(in Japanese)

House of Representatives (Japan)
Preceded by Kanezō Muraoka	Chair, Committee on Construction of the House of Representatives 1987–1988	Succeeded by Hosei Norota
Political offices
Preceded by Moichi Miyazaki	Director-General of the Science and Technology Agency 1989	Succeeded by Eizaburō Saitō
Preceded by Moichi Miyazaki	Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of Japan 1989	Succeeded by Eizaburō Saitō
Preceded by Taku Yamasaki	Minister of Construction 1992–1993	Succeeded by Kozo Igarashi
Honorary titles
Preceded by Ichirō Ozawa	Youngest member of the House of Representatives 1976–1979	Succeeded by Hajime Funada