Topics News&Topics

We held a seminar on learning from the past, led by former Minister of International Trade and Industry and Chief Advisor to the Tokyo branch of the Liberal Democratic Party, Takashi Fukaya.
This season's Onkochishinjuku will divide Fukaya Sensei's life from his birth to the present into four periods, and he will look back on events happening in Japan and the world at each period in a dialogue with Tokushinkai Group Chairman Matsumura. The title of the session is "Exploring the history of modern Japan and the world with Fukaya Sensei."

This time, we asked him to look back on his life from when he returned to Japan at the age of 11 after evacuation from Manchuria to when he was first elected to the ward assembly at the age of 27.

After repatriation, Mr. Fukaya lived in a room at Tanaka Elementary School where his relatives lived for three years, and then lived in a metropolitan housing complex. His father had told him around this time that he wanted to become a politician. Since then, he has been keeping a close eye on events happening around the world, such as the Korean War, the politics of Egyptian President Nasser, and the hydrogen bomb tests at Bikini Atoll.

Since he was in high school, he had a sign on his wall saying, "I will be a ward council member in my 20s, a metropolitan assembly member in my 30s, a member of the Diet in my 40s, a minister in my 50s, and rule the world in my 60s," and he was actively involved in activities such as debate clubs. During his university years, he worked part-time jobs to earn money for tuition, while also founding the All Japan Oratory Federation and becoming its representative director, steadily walking the path to becoming a politician.

Professor Fukaya has clarified his goals from a young age and has made systematic preparations and efforts, and his talk gave us some hints on how to make our dreams come true.