Nippon Ishin to Appoint Nakatsuka as Secretary-General

Jiji Press

11:37 JST, August 11, 2025

OSAKA (Jiji Press) — Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) is considering appointing Hiroshi Nakatsuka, a lawmaker of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Japan’s parliament, as secretary-general of the opposition party, informed sources said Sunday.

Lower House lawmaker Takashi Endo is expected to return as parliamentary affairs chief and Alex Saito, also a Lower House member, is likely to become policy chief, according to the sources. The party will announce the appointments on Tuesday.

Nakatsuka worked as a newspaper reporter before serving as a member of the assembly of Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, and mayor of the city of Hirakata in Osaka. He was first elected to the Lower House in 2021 and is currently serving his second term.

In the July election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, Nippon Ishin was unable to secure constituency seats in areas other than the Kansai western region, its home ground. In addition, the number of votes the party collected under the proportional representation system hit a record low.

In response to such unimpressive results, then Nippon Ishin co-leader Seiji Maehara and then party Secretary-General Ryohei Iwatani resigned. Fumitake Fujita succeeded Maehara as co-leader of the party.