Dr. John Muwete Muluaka: Profile of a naturalized citizen

John Muwete MULUAKA
An unusual casual photo; he's usually in a suit.
ジョン・ムウェテ・ムルアカ {John · Muwete · MURUAKA} (Dr. John Muwete MULUAKA) was born in 1961 in Republic of Zaire (which is now officially known as the République Démocratique du Congo), in the city of Kinshasa (the capital & largest city and one of the ten largest cities in Africa). In Japan he is primarily known as a television talent, an electrical engineering researcher, and an authoritative commentator on international world politics. Dr. Muluaka's native language is French, the official language of the DROC.

He first came to Japan in 1985 after graduating from the national university ISTA in electrical engineering. He worked for about four years as a journalist for Zaire's state broadcasting agency before coming to Japan in 1985

After arriving in Japan, he continued his studies in electrical engineering at TDU (東京電機大学 {Tōkyō Denki Daigaku}) in Adachi Ward (足立区 {Adachi-ku}).

When the Shōwa Emperor passed away in February of 1989, he served as the special assistant and interpreter for the Republic of Zaire's prime minster at the time, "Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa za Banga" (born as Joseph-Désiré Mobutu) — commonly known as "Mobutu Sese Seko".

He naturalized to Japanese nationality in 2005. Upon naturalizing, he chose the legal name ムウェテ武流阿加 {MUWETE Muruaka}, which is an interesting choice for a naturalized name as both names are foreign-origin, but he deliberately rendered his family name to be in カタカナ {katakana} (Japanese syllabet [often used for foreign words like italics]) but then used 当て字 {ateji} (Japanese sinograms that phonetically correspond to foreign sounds) for his given name. This has an advantage of being able to tell where the family name ends and the given name ends in Japanese script that has no punctuation or spaces. In the the public media, however, he continues to use his Zaire birth name rendered in pure 仮名 {kana} (Japanese syllabet) for professional reasons.

安倍昭恵＆ムウェテ
PM 安倍 {ABE}'s 「アッキー」 {"Akkī"} and 「ビッグ・ジョン」 {"Biggu · Jon"}
Dr. Muluaka's involvement in the Japanese television entertainment industry has crossed the path of Bobby OLOGUN (近田ボビー {KONDA Bobī}) a few times as they are both represented by the same talent agency. In 2006, Bobby Ologun supposably had a dispute over money with the agency's management, and "Big John" (ビッグ・ジョン {Biggu · Jon}) — as he is affectionately nicknamed by the press due to his 209cm stature — personally separated and broke up a brawl between Bobby and the agency staff. At a reconciliation press conference featuring both of them, Muluaka defended Bobby from accusations of lying about his age, explaining that in Africa, it is quite common to not have birth certificates and thus not be sure of one's own exact birthday. 谷川貞治 {TANIGAWA Sadaharu}, a K-1 kickboxing/martial-arts fight promoter and producer similar to America's Don King, speculated that the two would fight in a K-1 fighting event, but this never happened.

ひらけ！ポンキッキベスト
ガチャピン＆ムック {Gacchapin & Mukku}
One of the products of his "talent" activities was a duet called "JUMBO DANCE" (1993) performed with fellow African continent talent オスマン・サンコン {Osuman · SANKON}（Ousmane Sankhon) from the République de Guinée on the children's television show 『ひらけ!ポンキッキ』 {"Hirake! Ponkikki"} which is famous for its two mascot characters Gachapin & Mukku as well as its catchy children's songs. They called themselves the "African Brothers" (「アフリカン・ブラザーズ」 {Afurikan · Burazāzu}).

Since naturalizing, Dr. Muluaka spends much of his time lecturing at universities such as:
  1. KAIT (神奈川工科大学 {Kanagawa kōka daigaku}) — lecturing professor
  2. CIS (千葉科学大学 {Chiba Kagaku Daigaku}) — professor
  3. Takushoku University (拓殖大学 {Takushoku Daigaku})
Beginning in 2010, he started advising the government, serving terms in the following ministries:
  1. MIC (総務省 {sōmūshō})
  2. 2011: MEXT (文部科学省 {mombukagakushō})
  3. An adviser for Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry METI (経済産業省)
ムルアカ・クレッシェンド　あなたはムルアカを知ってますか？
He has authored or coauthored three books in Japanese.
  1. 『光るマンゴー―ザイールの心』 ("The mango that shines — Zaire's Heart")
  2. 『アフリカを知るための基礎知識』 ("Fundamental knowledge for knowing Africa")
  3. 『ムルアカ・クレッシェンド―あなたはムルアカを知ってますか?』 ("Muluaka Crescendo — Do you know Muluaka?")

鈴木宗男
Involved with politics early
Dr. Muluaka is also known for having a close mutual friendship and relationship with Japanese politician 鈴木宗男 {SUZUKI Muneo. He served as his personal private secretary beginning from 1992. Despite the scandals and prison time and losses in elections which resulted in him being let go, he has said that he would support him in the future should he decide to run for office again.

"Muneo" was released on parole in 2011.
Location: コンゴ民主共和国 キンシャサ

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