Finnish-born Marutei Tsurunen could become Deputy Minister in Japan’s new government

Marutei Tsurunen

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Finnish-born Marutei Tsurunen has a chance of being designated as a deputy minister in Japan. The appointment would make the Finnish-born member of the Diet of Japan the first-ever Japanese minister with a foreign background.
     
Tsurunen’s party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), won a landslide victory in Sunday’s elections that were arranged to choose the seats of the House of Representatives, the lower house of Japan’s Diet.
      As Tsurunen is a member of the House of Councillors, his seat was not one of those being fought over. Actually a new task could be on offer for him.
      Since his party won in the elections, unseating the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) that had ruled Japan for most of the past half-century, Tsurunen could become the first foreign-born minister in the Diet of Japan.
     
”I do not believe that I could become a minister, but we will have three or four deputy ministers in each ministry. I could become a deputy minister of one of the ministries, for example the Ministry of Agriculture or the Ministry of the Environment”, Tsurunen reported over the phone from Tokyo.
      Organic farming, agricultural reform, and environmental issues are close to Tsurunen’s heart.
      ”In principle, I feel that it would be better to remain outside the cabinet, as I would like to be able to express criticism against the cabinet programme if needed”, Tsurunen added.
     
Marutei Tsurunen was born in Northern Karelia in 1940 under the name Martti Turunen.
      In 1967, he travelled to Japan as a lay missionary of the Lutheran Church.
      Having decided to become Japanese, Tsurunen gained Japanese citizenship in 1979.
      In 2002 he became Japan’s first Parliamentarian with a foreign background.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Marutei Tsurunen re-elected to upper house of Japanese Diet (31.7.2007)
  Marutei Tsurunen´s political dream in Japan fades (13.9.2005)

Links:
  Diet of Japan (Wikipedia)
  Marutei Tsurunen (Wikipedia)

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