Shinji Tarutoko

Shinji Tarutoko
Shinji Tarutoko
樽床伸二
	Official portrait, 2012
Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications
	In office; 1 October 2012 – 26 December 2012
Prime Minister	Yoshihiko Noda
Preceded by	Tatsuo Kawabata
Succeeded by	Yoshitaka Shindō
Member of the House of Representatives
	In office; 22 October 2017 – 28 January 2019
Preceded by	Multi-member district
Succeeded by	Sumio Mabuchi
Constituency	Kinki PR
	In office; 31 August 2009 – 16 November 2012
Preceded by	Tomokatsu Kitagawa
Succeeded by	Tomokatsu Kitagawa
Constituency	Osaka 12th
	In office; 19 July 1993 – 8 August 2005
Preceded by	Ishimatsu Kitagawa
Succeeded by	Tomokatsu Kitagawa
Constituency	Osaka 7th (1993–1996); Osaka 12th (1996–2005)
Personal details
Born	6 August 1959 (age 66); Mitoya, Shimane, Japan
Party	Independent (1990–1992; 2016–2017; 2018–present)
Other political; affiliations	JNP (1992–1994); NFP (1994–1997); From Five (1997–1998); GGP (1998); DPJ (1998–2016); DP (2016); KnT (2017–2018);
Alma mater	Osaka University
Website	Official website

Shinji Tarutoko (樽床伸二, Tarutoko Shinji; born 6 August 1959) is a Japanese politician and former member of the House of Representatives.

Early life and education

Tarutoko was born in Shimane Prefecture on 6 August 1959. He studied at the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management.^[1]

Career

Tarutoko was first elected to the House of Representatives in the 1993 election as a member of the defunct Japan New Party.^[1] Then he joined the Democratic Party of Japan in 1998.^[1]

In June 2010, he declared his intention to run against Naoto Kan for the leadership of the Democratic Party of Japan; had he won, he would have become the next Prime Minister of Japan.^[2] However, he was defeated on a 291–129 vote.^[3] He was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on 1 October 2012.^[1]

He lost his seat in the 16 December 2012 general election to Tomokatsu Kitagawa, who he had defeated in the 2009 election.^[4] Tarutoko challenged Kitagawa again in 2014, but failed. He became the top candidate on Kibō no Tō's Kinki proportional representation list in 2017 and was elected back to the House.^[5]