Takeshi Maeda

Takeshi Maeda (前田 武志, Maeda Takeshi; born October 22, 1937) is a retired Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, who served as a member of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature).

Takeshi Maeda
前田 武志
Maeda in 2011
Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
In office 2 September 2011 – 4 June 2012
Prime Minister	Yoshihiko Noda
Preceded by	Akihiro Ohata
Succeeded by	Yuichiro Hata
Member of the House of Councillors
In office 26 July 2004 – 25 July 2016
Constituency	National PR
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 6 July 1986 – 2 June 2000
Preceded by	Chūzaburō Kagita
Succeeded by	Ryotaro Tanose
Constituency	Nara at-large (1986–1996) Nara 4th (1996–2000)
Personal details
Born	(1937-10-22) 22 October 1937 (age 87) Yoshino, Nara, Japan
Political party	DPP (since 2018)
Other political affiliations	LDP (1983–1993) JRP (1993–1994) NFP (1994–1996) Sun (1996–1998) GGP (1998) DPJ (1998–2016) DP (2016–2018)
Alma mater	Kyoto University

Early life

A native of Yoshino District, Nara, Maeda graduated from Kyoto University with a master's degree.

Political career

Maeda was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1986, representing the Nara at-large constituency. After serving in the House of Representatives for four terms, one as representative for the Nara 4th constituency, he was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time in 2004.

In September 2011 he was appointed as Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in the cabinet of newly appointed prime minister Yoshihiko Noda.^[1][2] However, Maeda left the ministry the following year after a series of censure motions ^[3] were passed by the House of Councillors in April 2012. These motions required prime minister Noda to dismiss both Maeda and the Minister of Defence Naoki Tanaka in order to get the necessary support from the opposition parties to pass his plan to increase Japan's consumption tax rate.^[4]

Maeda retired from the House of Councillors after his term expired in 2016.^[5]