Osamu Fujimura

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

Date of Birth: 03/11/1949
Place of Birth: Osaka

Since taking power in 2009, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has struggled to distinguish itself from its long-ruling predecessor and turn around Japan's economy. In African relations, however, it projects consistency.

Many of Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government are embarking on their first official African excursions. Osamu Fujimura, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, led a 60-strong delegation of officials and business leaders to southern Africa in late August. The high-powered group included representatives of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Marubeni Corporation, as well as leaders of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Japan International Cooperation Agency. Namibian uranium and diamonds, Angolan petroleum, and South African markets for Japanese goods and services were among the attractions.

Fujimura was born in 1949 in Osaka. He studied engineering management at Hiroshima University, graduating in 1973. He then worked for a variety of philanthropic organisations. He later served as Executive Director of the Japan-Brazil Friendship Association.

Since 1991, Fujimura has been advisor at Ashinaga, a Japanese non-profit that works with orphans. The organisation operates the Ashinaga Uganda Rainbow House in Kampala, Uganda, providing treatment and support to AIDS orphans.

In 1993, Fujimura won his first seat in the House of Representatives as a member of the Japan New Party. He was a co-founder of the New Frontier Party, a short-lived opposition effort that dissolved after four years. He co-founded the DPJ in 1998. Before the DPJ came to power in 2009, Fujimura served as its shadow minister of education and of health, labour and welfare.