Yūichirō Tamaki

is a Japanese politician and the leader of the Democratic Party for the People (DPFP). He is a member of the House of Representatives, and a former leader of Kibō no Tō. Before joining Kibō, Tamaki was a member of the Democratic Party. Early life and government career Tamaki was born in Sangawa, a small rural town in Kagawa Prefecture. His parents are engaged in agriculture. After graduating from the Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo, he joined the Ministry of Finance in 1993. With government sponsorship, he obtained an MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1997, and thereafter served on secondments to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (where he covered Jordan and Libya), Financial Services Agency, Osaka Regional Tax Office, and Cabinet Office. In the latter role, he worked closely with LDP Cabinet ministers Nobuteru Ishihara, Kazuyoshi Kaneko, and Seiichiro Murakami on administrative reform efforts. Political career Tamaki resigned from government service in 2005 to run in the 2005 general election after both the Liberal Democratic Party and Democratic Party of Japan approached him to run. He chose to run as a DPJ candidate despite having recently worked in incumbent LDP Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet Office. He lost in this race, and spent the next four years living with his extended family in the countryside.