Tatsuo Kawabata (川端 達夫, Kawabata Tatsuo, born January 24, 1945) is a Japanese politician from the Democratic Party, and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) from 1986 to 2017. A native of Ōmihachiman, Shiga, he attended Kyoto University and received a master's degree from it. His elder brother is former mayor of Omihachiman Gohei Kawabata. In September 2011 he was appointed as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications in the cabinet of newly appointed prime minister Yoshihiko Noda.^[1] He was relieved from the post on 1 October 2012. In September 2017, Kawabata announced that he would not run in the 2017 general election and would retire from politics.

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Quick Facts Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan, Prime Minister ...

Tatsuo Kawabata
川端 達夫
June 6, 2012
Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan
In office 24 December 2014 – 28 September 2017
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe
Preceded by	Hirotaka Akamatsu
Succeeded by	Hirotaka Akamatsu
Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications
In office 2 September 2011 – 1 October 2012
Prime Minister	Yoshihiko Noda
Preceded by	Yoshihiro Katayama
Succeeded by	Shinji Tarutoko
Personal details
Born	(1945-01-24) 24 January 1945 (age 79) Gamō, Shiga, Japan
Political party	Democratic Party
Alma mater	Kyoto University

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Born in Gamo-gun, Shiga prefecture (now Omihachiman city ). The birthplace ran a pharmacy . Graduated from Shiga Prefectural Hikone East High School, Kyoto University Faculty of Engineering. Joined Toray after completing a master's program at the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University. Besides being involved in development research, he also worked on the trade union movement.