Arfiya Eri

In this Uyghur name, the given name is Arfiye. Ablet is a patronymic, not a family name.

Arfiya Eri (Japanese: 英利 アルフィヤ, romanized: Eri Arufiya; born 16 October 1988^[1]), also known as Arfiye Ablet (Uyghur: ئارفىيە ئابلەت) in Uyghur, is a Japanese politician for the Liberal Democratic Party of Uyghur and Uzbek descent.

Arfiya Eri
英利アルフィヤ
Official portrait, 2022
Member of the House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office 23 April 2023
Preceded by	Kentaro Sonoura
Constituency	Chiba 5th (2023–2024) Southern Kanto PR (2024–present)
Personal details
Born	(1988-10-16) 16 October 1988 (age 36) Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
Citizenship	Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Alma mater	Georgetown University
Website	eri-arfiya.jp

Arfiya Eri
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	英利 阿丽菲亚
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yīnglì Ālìfēiyà
Japanese name
Kanji	英利 アルフィヤ
Hiragana	えり あるふぃあ
Transcriptions Romanization Eri Arufiya
Uyghur name
Uyghur	ئارفىيە ئابلەت

Biography

She was born in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture. Her father is Uyghur while her mother is of Uzbek descent. She moved to Shanghai at age 10 and Guangzhou at age 11 due to her father's work relocation, and attended the Shanghai American School and the American International School of Guangzhou, where she was elected high school student body president. She graduated from Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service and Graduate School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. Her native language is Japanese, and she is able to communicate in English, Chinese, Uzbek, Turkish and Uyghur with considerable fluency, plus basic level Arabic.^[2][3] Arfiya previously spent time as an official for the Bank of Japan and the United Nations.^[4]

She ran as an LDP candidate during the 2022 Japanese House of Councillors election.^[5] In April 2023, she was elected to the Japanese House of Representatives in a by-election for Chiba's 5th district.^[6]

Appointed Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs in November 2024.^[7]

Political positions

She has described her policies as in line with most mainstream LDP positions. She has been vocal about her support for initiatives to promote gender equality in Japan. Eri has noted that female and young politicians are rare in Japan (She was 33 years old as of July 2022), saying that, "We need better representation -- we need young people to feel that they are being represented, that the future is in their hands. Right now, a lot of antagonism comes from the fact that most of the politicians look the same to them."^[3]

Eri is strongly anti-authoritarian, a position she says is shaped by China's human rights abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang.^[3][8]