Tatsuo Kawabata

Tatsuo Kawabata is a Japanese former politician from the Democratic Party, and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet 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. 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.