1. Tomomi Inada is a Japanese lawyer and politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives, representing the 1st Fukui Prefecture since September 2005.
26 Facts About Tomomi Inada
1. 2.
Tomomi Inada previously served as Minister of Defense from August 2016 to July 2017, resigning in response to a cover up scandal within the Japanese Ministry of Defense.
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Tomomi Inada spent time as the Chairwoman of the Policy Research Council of the Liberal Democratic Party in her fourth term as a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet.
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Tomomi Inada expresses skepticism that comfort women, forced prostitutes for Japan in World War II, were compelled to work.
5.
Tomomi Inada initially belonged to the Osaka Bar Association but since 2008 has belonged to the Fukui Bar Association.
6.
Tomomi Inada stood for the government in a lawsuit relating to Yasukuni Shrine, and served as an attorney for the plaintiff concerning the hundred man killing contest that occurred during the Second Sino-Japanese War, as well as the commanders who fought in the Battle of Okinawa and a bereaved family suing Kenzaburo Oe and Iwanami Shoten for their defamation of character towards the commanders.
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Tomomi Inada ran in the general election held on 11 September 2005 and was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time.
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Tomomi Inada is highly esteemed by Abe because of her political and historical beliefs, which are close to Abe's.
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Tomomi Inada is the first Defense Minister since Akinori Eto to have no record of prior military service.
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Tomomi Inada is the first female defense minister since Yuriko Koike, and the second female Defense Minister in Japanese History.
11.
On 15 September 2016, one month after becoming Defense Minister, Tomomi Inada met with American Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in Washington, DC After the meeting, Tomomi Inada stated that the Japanese military would increase its activity in the South China Sea and increase the number of military drills with the United States, which represented a significant change in Japanese policy regarding the South China Sea dispute.
12.
In December 2016, immediately after Abe and Tomomi Inada met US President Barack Obama in Hawaii and Abe expressed 'everlasting condolences' for the casualties of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, Tomomi Inada made her first visit to the Yasukuni Shrine since becoming defense minister.
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Tomomi Inada's visit followed by a day a visit to the shrine by Minister for reconstruction Masahiro Imamura.
14.
On 4 February 2017, Tomomi Inada met with the new United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis in Tokyo, Japan.
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On Monday, 1 May 2017, Tomomi Inada ordered the dispatch of the Maritime Self-Defense Force Helicopter Carrier Izumo to protect a USNavy supply vessel in the Pacific.
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Tomomi Inada resigned in late July 2017 over claims that she helped to cover up internal records that exposed the danger Japanese peacekeepers faced in South Sudan.
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Fuji News Network then reported that it had obtained a two-page memo hand-written by an anonymous senior Defense Ministry official stating that Tomomi Inada knew about the existence of the logs, yet decided to stick with her previous statement that they had been deleted.
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The memo's allegation that Tomomi Inada knew about the logs could not be verified despite a later investigation into the matter.
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Tomomi Inada believes the word "right-wing" is an inappropriate description of her political beliefs.
20.
Tomomi Inada questioned why the 2007 film Yasukuni received Japanese government funds.
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Tomomi Inada alleged that the film was politically biased, and said that funds should not be given to politically biased films.
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Tomomi Inada has denied the Nanjing Massacre, and supported the negationist film The Truth about Nanjing, which denied that it ever occurred.
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Tomomi Inada accused the Japan Teachers Union of being sympathetic with China, and opposed their teaching about the Nanjing Massacre in schools.
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Tomomi Inada has alleged that the Tokyo Trials distorted Japan's responsibility for the war.
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Tomomi Inada helped launch the LDP Special Mission Committee to Restore the Honor and Trust of Japan, which in 2015 recommended to Prime Minister Abe that Japan counter what it views as false allegations against Japan regarding the comfort women issue.
26.
In 2016, Tomomi Inada went against her party's traditional opposition to LGBT rights by setting up a committee within the party to discuss the matter.