Bunmei Ibuki

Bunmei Ibuki
伊吹 文明
Official portrait, 2006
Speaker of the House of Representatives
In office 26 December 2012 – 21 November 2014
Monarch	Akihito
Preceded by	Takahiro Yokomichi
Succeeded by	Nobutaka Machimura
67th Minister of Finance
In office 2 August 2008 – 24 September 2008
Prime Minister	Yasuo Fukuda
Preceded by	Fukushiro Nukaga
Succeeded by	Shōichi Nakagawa
Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
In office 26 September 2006 – 26 September 2007
Prime Minister	Shinzō Abe
Preceded by	Kenji Kosaka
Succeeded by	Kisaburo Tokai
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 19 December 1983 – 14 October 2021
Succeeded by	Yasushi Katsume
Constituency	Former Kyoto 1st (1983–1996) Kyoto 1st (1996–2009, 2012–2021) Kinki PR (2009–2012)
Personal details
Born	(1938-01-09) 9 January 1938 Kyoto, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Alma mater	Kyoto University

Bunmei Ibuki (伊吹 文明, Ibuki Bunmei, born 9 January 1938) is a retired Japanese politician who served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2012 to 2014.

Early life and career

He was born in Kyoto to a family of textile wholesalers who had operated the business since the Edo period. He graduated with a BA from Kyoto University's economics department in 1960. At Kyoto University he was a member of the tennis club. Upon graduation Ibuki became a bureaucrat at the Ministry of Finance. He was dispatched to the Japanese embassy in London in 1965, where he stayed for four years.

Political career

Ibuki in 1997

Ibuki entered politics in 1983 at former Finance Minister Michio Watanabe's behest. He is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and has served in a variety of government positions, including Minister of Labour (1997~98) and National Public Safety Commission chairman (2000~01).

Ibuki with Enrique peǹa Nieto in 2013

He was appointed Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology on 26 September 2006 as a part of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe's first cabinet. In this position, he promoted the controversial revision of the Fundamental Law of Education. He was subsequently appointed as Secretary-General of the LDP in September 2007; less than a year later, he was replaced in that position by Taro Aso and was instead appointed as Minister of Finance. He is known for his knowledge of finance and tax and welfare policies. He held the post of Finance Minister for less than two months, however, and was replaced by Shōichi Nakagawa in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso, appointed on 24 September 2008.

On 26 December 2012, Bunmei Ibuki was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan. He presided over the day of his inauguration, the election of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.

Personal life

• Ibuki is a fluent English speaker. He is a member of the openly revisionist lobby Nippon Kaigi, and affiliated to the fundamentalist shinto lobby Shinto Seiji Renmei Kokkai Giin Kondankai (神道政治連盟国会議員懇談会).
• Ibuki is nicknamed "Ibu-King" due to his enduring political influence despite his now-advanced age.

Honours

• Japan: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers (29 April 2022)
• Netherlands: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau (29 October 2014)

External links

• Discussions on Japanese politics and education (Streaming and mp3)