Democratic Party for the People, House of Representatives Member Motohisa Furukawa

Whether tomorrow's society will be better or worse depends on us.

Democratic Party for the People Member of the House of Representatives　Motohisa Furukawa(Furukawa Motohisa)

■ Profile

Born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture in 1965. Graduated from Aichi Prefectural Asahigaoka High School and the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo. Studied at Columbia University Graduate School in the United States. Joined the Ministry of Finance (now the Ministry of Finance) in 1988 and retired in 1994. First elected to the House of Representatives in 1996, he is currently serving his ninth term (Aichi 2nd District). During this time, he has served as Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Minister of State for National Strategy, Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy, and more. He currently serves as Chairman of the Diet Affairs Committee of the Democratic Party for the People.

Motohisa Furukawa is a member of the House of Representatives belonging to the Democratic Party for the People. We spoke to him about what led him to choose the path of politics and what he hopes to achieve.

My father was a hardworking man, but he was a permanent, rank-and-file employee with no chance of promotion. Our family life was not easy, and my mother did side jobs to somehow support the family. Growing up in such a household, I began to think, "I want to create a society where people who work hard are rewarded," and I thought I would make that dream come true by becoming a bureaucrat. At the time, the quickest way to become a bureaucrat was to get into the University of Tokyo, so I studied hard with the aim of getting in and somehow managed to get in.
However, shortly after entering university, I began to think that I wanted to become a lawyer and make a difference in the world. However, due to financial circumstances, I was not in a position to continue studying for the exam, even if it meant repeating a year or taking a year off, so I spent every day holed up in the university library until closing time, studying. Every day was immersed in studying and was difficult, but my determination to get out of this lifestyle as soon as possible meant that I worked hard and was able to pass the exam while still a student, and it also helped me develop perseverance. However, after passing the bar exam, I decided to return to my roots and become a bureaucrat, and joined the Ministry of Finance (now the Ministry of Finance).

■Studying in the US led to choosing a career in politics

What prompted me to aim to become a politician was my study abroad in the United States at the age of 27. At the time, the value of the yen was high, and people could live a much better life there than in Japan, even with the same salary. Meanwhile, Japan's bubble economy had just burst, and many people felt that Japan was going to get worse from now on. So I too was thinking, "Maybe I should stay in the United States instead of returning to Japan." At that moment, I suddenly remembered something I had heard from an architect who designed the Kasumigaseki Building and other buildings. He had studied in the United States during the postwar occupation, and upon seeing the prosperous and safe American society, he told me at a party celebrating my study abroad that he "wanted to make Japan a society like that one day, so he came back to Japan and worked hard."
Remembering those words, I realized, "I am able to live a good life today thanks to the efforts of those ancestors. If our generation were to abandon Japan, thinking, 'Japan is going to get worse from now on,' then Japan would definitely get worse. That would be an insult to our ancestors who worked so hard, even with their blood and sweat on their hands. Instead of thinking, 'Japan is going to get worse from now on,' as if it were someone else's problem, we must work hard to prevent it from getting worse."
I believe the difference between the roles of politicians and bureaucrats is that the role of politicians is to lay the rails, while the role of bureaucrats is to keep trains on the laid rails and run them according to the timetable without derailing. At the time, I was working as a bureaucrat, and I felt that "what is needed now is to lay new rails to replace the old rails," so I decided to leave the bureaucracy and pursue a career in politics.

■Turn a crisis into an opportunity by doubling the living area

"Food, clothing, and shelter" are said to be basic human needs. Of these, "food" and "clothing" are almost met in Japan. However, when it comes to "shelter," it is hard to say that the need for shelter is met, even as an admiration. In the past, people said, "It can't be helped, with over 1 million people in such a small country," and gave up on improving the living environment. However, with Japan's declining population, the number of vacant houses is rapidly increasing, and the "vacant house problem" has become a major social issue. Therefore, we would like to take advantage of this situation and seize the opportunity to dramatically improve the living environment of Japanese people, specifically by doubling the living area per person.
Japan is currently facing a variety of challenges, not just this population decline. However, "a crisis is an opportunity." We must turn this opportunity into a chance to improve our lives. I believe that this is the mission imposed on us as people living in this era.

■Message to university students

In any era, the protagonists of the next generation are young people like you. With the awareness and confidence that you will make a better future for yourself, do your best to do what you can now. If you do that, the future will surely be bright.

Interview with Student Newspaper Online on October 14, 2022 by Maho Wada, a third-year student at Nihon University