Motohisa Furukawa (43) first entered Japan's House of Representatives in October 1996 at the age of 30. Since then, the constituents of his native Aichi Prefecture have continued to support him with constantly high percentages of the votes, giving Furukawa a clear majority in every subsequent election.

In September 2005, despite a difficult election for the DPJ, his backing further increased to 116,884 votes, an absolute majority of 52%.

Furukawa continues to be a driving force in encouraging a proactive, forward-looking approach to politics. Through fiscal responsibility and reform of the social security structure, Furukawa believes Japan can successfully adjust to the challenges of demographic change and create new systems to answer to the needs of future populations.

In 1998, as a fledgling lawmaker, Furukawa sought to stimulate the Japanese economy in the midst of a financial crisis with an audacious financial reform plan called the “Financial Revitalization Bill.”

As his experience has grown, Furukawa has continued to make his presence known in the Diet, pointing out the Government’s irresponsible accounting during Budget Research Committee sessions and presenting bills on behalf of the DPJ. In the 164th Diet Session (January to June 2006), he stressed the necessity for the people of Japan to decide the future of the Japanese Constitution through a national referendum. In the committee during the same period, Furukawa proposed solutions to remedy Japan's failing social security structure, called for debates on the revision of the National Pension System, and alerted Diet members to the precarious state of Japanese healthcare. It was due to DPJ action and Furukawa's persistent efforts that the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) eventually accepted the need for policies to deal with cancer and the chronic shortage of medical doctors.

“The healthcare system...resembles the structure of
a socialist state on the brink of collapse”

He has also been involved in a large number of Diet initiatives, serving on committees such as the House of Representatives Research Commission on the Constitution, and the Committee on Fundamental National Policies. He has acted as Deputy Chair of the Pension Reform Council, provided an advisory role to the Intellectual Property Strategic Project Team, and has taken part in the Joint House Committee for Reform of the Social Security System. Furukawa has also participated in the House of Representatives’ Special Committee for Research on the Constitution and has led both the House of Representatives’ Welfare Committee and the Standing Committee on Audit and Oversight of Administration, a high-profile committee scrutinizing the use of Government funds and acting as a check on bureaucratic governance. Furukawa currently acts as Head Director of the Committee on Economy, Trade and Industry.

Motohisa Furukawa was involved in the formation of the Democratic Party and continues to shape its success.

A member of the DPJ since the mid-1990s, Furukawa played a key role in forming the Democratic Party of Japan's first manifesto in 2003, and was appointed to the post of Minister for Health, Labour and Welfare in the DPJ's ‘Next Cabinet'. He was subsequently given the roles of Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary to the Next Cabinet (2004-5) and Deputy of the Policy Research Council (2005), and has also acted as a representative in the Aichi Prefecture DPJ Committee.

Currently, Furukawa is Chair of the Democratic Party’s Pension Research Committee and is Senior Vice Chair of the Democratic Party's Tax System Research Committee.

Motohisa Furukawa: Domestic political leadership with a dynamic international presence.

After receiving a B.A. in Law from the University of Tokyo in 1988, Furukawa graduated to join the prestigious Ministry of Finance and took part in the Ministry of Finance Exchange Program at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University (1993). He has been named as a New Asian Leader by the World Economic Forum (2002) and appointed as an Inamori Fellow (2003) at Abshire-Inamori Academy on Leadership, a program established by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Inamori Foundation. Motohisa is also a member of the Tokyo Council for Global Future, a forum that re-examines the meaning of 'Japan', how the country might best be led, and what direction future policies should take.

In 2005, he was elected as one of a select number of 'Young Global Leaders', a responsibility that regularly brings him into contact with prominent leaders drawn from all over the world and selected from a diverse range of disciplines, including politics, business, science and civil society. Furukawa is one of the co-founders of the Young Global Leaders’ recent TABLE FOR TWO initiative (www.tablefor2.org), which promotes a single strategy that attempts to tackle worldwide problems of hunger and obesity simultaneously.

Furukawa, a member of the prominent Council on East Asian Community, travels throughout the Asia-Pacific region to meet and share ideas with key political and business leaders.

He is the author of two books and writes frequently for both domestic and international audiences. He is married to Yukiko and they have a son and a daughter.