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Tomoko Tamura | |
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田村 智子 | |
_(cropped).jpg) Tamura in 2024 | |
| Chairwoman of the Japanese Communist Party | |
| Assumed office 18 January 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Kazuo Shii |
| Member of theHouse of Representatives | |
| Assumed office 1 November 2024 | |
| Constituency | Tokyo PR |
| Member of theHouse of Councillors | |
| In office 26 July 2010 – 15 October 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Multi-member district |
| Succeeded by | Mikishi Daimon |
| Constituency | National PR |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Tomoko Yamazaki (1965-07-04)4 July 1965 (age 60) Komoro, Nagano, Japan |
| Party | Communist (since 1985) |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Waseda University |
Tomoko Tamura (田村 智子,Tamura Tomoko;néeYamazaki, born 4 July 1965) is a Japanese politician and achairwoman of the Japanese Communist Party. She succeededKazuo Shii in 2024. She was a member of theHouse of Councillors from 2010 to 2024.
Tamura was born on 4 July 1965, inKomoro,Nagano Prefecture, to parents who owned astationery shop.[1][2] While attendingWaseda University, after a series of protests and strikes against an increase in tuition, she joined theDemocratic Youth League of Japan.[3]
After she graduated, she took full time employment with theDemocratic Youth League of Japan, organizing anti-war protests and pro-peace rallies.[4] From 1995, she had switched to the main Japanese Communist Party and worked as the secretary and deputy secretary respectively for House of Representative membersIkuko Ishii and Miyo Inoue. She ran unsuccessfully for the House of Councilors in 1998, 2001, and 2007, and for the House of Representatives in 2005.[5]
Tamura was first elected to the House of Councilors in the2010 election, for theNational party list block, and was reelected in2016 and2022.[6][7]Before becoming the party's leader, she served as the vice chair of the executive committee and the chair of the policy committee.[8]She criticized formerPrime MinisterShinzo Abe's female cabinet picks, saying that they were performative instead of advancingwomen's empowerment.[9] She also criticized Abe over his involvement in thecherry blossom scandal.[10]
On 18 January 2024, she replacedKazuo Shii as chair of the Japan Communist Party. She became the party's first female chair in history.[11][12] Tamura was selected to replace Shii after he was caught in a scandal after expelling two members of theJapanese Communist Party who had called for the democratic election of the party's leadership by party members. Tamura's selection has been viewed by some as an attempt to repair the Communist Party's image in this scandal's wake.[13]
Tamura stood for theOctober 2024 House of Representatives election as the top candidate on the Communist Party list for theTokyo proportional representation block. She thus automatically lost her seat in the House of Councillors when the election was officially announced.[14]
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