24 Facts About Tomio Okamura

Tomio Okamura is a Japanese-born Czech far-right politician and entrepreneur.

Tomio Okamura founded the Czech political parties Dawn of Direct Democracy and Freedom and Direct Democracy.

Tomio Okamura previously served as an independent Senator for Zlin district from October 2012 until his election to the Chamber of Deputies a year later.

Tomio Okamura lived in Japan for the first ten years of his life before his mother returned with her sons to Czechoslovakia.

Tomio Okamura spent a part of his childhood in a children's home in Mastov in the Usti nad Labem Region, where he was severely bullied, causing him to have a stutter until the age of 22.

Tomio Okamura started his business career in 1994 mainly focused on the travel and gastronomy industries.

Tomio Okamura started publishing a quarterly Pivni magazin.

Tomio Okamura is the author or co-author of several books.

Tomio Okamura was a judge on Den D, the Czech version of British television programme Dragons' Den, for three series between 2009 and 2010.

In June 2012, Tomio Okamura, known previously as an advocate of direct democracy, announced his candidacy for the 2012 Czech Senate election as an independent candidate in Zlin.

In February 2013 Tomio Okamura was among a group of senators to sign a proposal to prosecute president Vaclav Klaus for high treason, regarding the amnesty announced by Klaus on finishing his term.

Tomio Okamura supported the constitutional amendment to abolish lifelong immunity for public officials.

Immediately following his election to the Senate, Tomio Okamura announced his intention to stand in the 2013 presidential election.

Tomio Okamura appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, which ruled that the Ministry of Interior had made an error while counting the signatures; however, even after correcting the error he did not obtain the required number of valid signatures.

Tomio Okamura appealed to the Ministry to re-calculate the signatures individually, rather than by estimation, but the appeal was denied.

In reaction to this verdict, Tomio Okamura announced that it was a "political decision", and questioned the independence of the judiciary.

In May 2015, Tomio Okamura founded a new political grouping in the Czech Chamber of Deputies, Freedom and Direct Democracy, a hard Eurosceptic, anti-immigration, and pro-direct democracy party.

Tomio Okamura was reelected as a deputy in the 2017 legislative elections.

Tomio Okamura has two brothers; his older brother, Hayato Tomio Okamura, is an interpreter and translator, and in 2015 joined KDU-CSL, standing for that party in Prague in the subsequent legislative elections in 2017.

Tomio Okamura has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2021.

Tomio Okamura's younger brother, Osamu Okamura, is an architect and university teacher, and entered politics in 2023.

Tomio Okamura was a candidate for the Green Party in the 2024 European Parliament elections.

Tomio Okamura has a son named Ruy from his three-year marriage to a Japanese woman.

In January 2012, when he was 40 years old, it was reported that Tomio Okamura was dating a 20-year-old Czech student.