Seiichi Ota

The native form of this personal name is Ōta Seiichi. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Seiichi Ota
太田 誠一
Official portrait, 1998
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
In office 1 August 2008 – 19 September 2008
Prime Minister	Yasuo Fukuda
Preceded by	Masatoshi Wakabayashi
Succeeded by	Nobutaka Machimura (acting) Shigeru Ishiba
Director-General of the Management and Coordination Agency
In office 30 July 1998 – 5 October 1999
Prime Minister	Keizō Obuchi
Preceded by	Sadatoshi Ozato
Succeeded by	Kunihiro Tsuzuki
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 12 September 2005 – 21 July 2009
Preceded by	Kazue Fujita
Succeeded by	Kazue Fujita
Constituency	Fukuoka 3rd
In office 23 June 1980 – 10 October 2003
Preceded by	Multi-member district
Succeeded by	Kazue Fujita
Constituency	Fukuoka 1st (1980–1996) Fukuoka 3rd (1996–2003)
Personal details
Born	(1945-10-31) 31 October 1945 Fukuoka, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Other political affiliations	New Frontier
Relatives	Kiyoko Fukuda (cousin)
Alma mater	Fukuoka University

Seiichi Ota (太田 誠一, Ōta Seiichi, born 31 October 1945) is a former Japanese politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives. He is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the Koga faction. He is the cousin of Kiyoko Fukuda, who married Prime Minister of Japan Yasuo Fukuda.

Career

Before entering politics, Ota was an economics professor. He then served as chief of the Management and Coordination Agency.

Ota entered politics in 1980 with the help of his father-in-law, the governor of Fukuoka. He has since been involved mainly in economic policy. Under Noboru Takeshita in the late 1980s, he advocated the introduction of the consumption tax. Ota also participated in changes in the Commercial Law in the late 1990s and realignment of government ministries and agencies in 2001. Ota left the LDP in 1994 to form a small party, but returned to the LDP the following year.

Igniting more controversy after the Super Free rape scandal was revealed, on 26 June 2003 Ota said "At least gang rapists are still vigorous. Isn't that at least a little closer to normal?" This shocked Japan and Mizuho Fukushima criticized him.

During the debate on terrorism in January 2008, he claimed that Fukushima was an "ultra-leftist".

On 1 August 2008, Yasuo Fukuda named Ota as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the cabinet list. However, he resigned the post on 19 September 2008, following a scandal over tainted rice (汚染米 or 事故米穀, Osenmai or Jikobeikoku). He stated: "I met with Prime Minister Fukuda and told him my decision to resign, considering the seriousness of the tainted rice problem for the society." Yasuo Fukuda accepted the resignation. Ota was informed of the problem in January 2007 but said he saw no need to make "too much of a fuss over it". The rice, tainted with pesticide methamidophos and mould, was for industrial uses only, but was resold, used and served to make lunches for thousands of schoolchildren and nursing home patients.

External links

• "Fury over Japan rape gaffe". BBC News. 27 June 2003.
• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived July 4, 2007) (in Japanese)