Profile of Noemi INOUE: city council representative for Sumida City, Tokyo

City Councillor elections for Tokyo were last month. A number of politicians who were originally another nationality have run for office in Japan, and quite a few get elected. We have covered other city councillors (as well as national level politicians in the House of Representatives and upper house of Japan's Diet) who were originally of another nationality but naturalized and took Japanese nationality. For this article, I'd like to feature 井上ノエミ {INOUE Noemi}, formerly a Bolivian national who has been representing Sumida City in Tokyo (東京都墨田区 {Tōkyō-to Sumida-ku}) for many years now. She was re-elected to a second term last month.

I should note that Ms. Inoue shares the same family name (Inoue) as I do, and also writes her given name in カタカナ {katakana} (Japanese block-style syllabet). Of course, there's no relation: "Inoue" has been a very common name throughout Japanese history — it is sometimes spelled "Inouye" overseas due to Japanese diaspora emigrating over a century ago before the language underwent modernization around the middle of the 20th century.

Noemi was born on December 5, 1961 in Nuestra Señora de La Paz, Bolivia with the surname of Meneses. One of four siblings (she has both a younger and older brother and a younger sister) One brother is a computer engineer and the other two siblings are both architects. Her mother lived with her briefly in Japan for a half year to help her raise her oldest daughter. She has a total of four nephews and two nieces.

After graduating from Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, she took a post at the Bolivian office for the UNDP / UNOPS) which is part of the Central Bank of Bolivia, working as an analyst and financial specialist.

From the connection, she was assigned to United Nations' headquarters in New York City to work on a not just Bolivian projects, but on activities throughout South America, as a consultant for the UNDP. It was there that she first met, and eventually married in Bolivia, her husband Kazuo Inoue (井上和雄 {INOUE Kazuo}) who was also working with the UN as an official for UNICEF.

Kazuo Inoue had political aspirations within Japan and with Noemi, returned to Japan in 1995 to run for, and be elected, to the House of Representatives as part of the Democratic Party of Japan (民主党 {minshutō}). He would serve two terms in Japan's lower house. Currently, he is the executive secretary in charge of a local political party called 「自由を守る会 {jiyū o mamoru kai}」 ("Freedom Empowerment Association").

In addition to her and her husband's international experience with the United Nations, Noemi learned much about Japanese domestic politics by helping her husband with his election and political activities in Sumida City, Tokyo. From that experience, she established the NPO "Japan-Latin America Friendship Association" (日本ラテンアメリカ友好協会 {Nihon-Raten America kōyū kyōkai}) and still serves as board chairman. She is also the Executive President of the Spanish Circle in Tokyo, which is run by the JLA. Her hobby is Latin dance.

In order to take the next step in her political career, her husband suggested she change her nationality to Japanese: a requirement for being a political representative in Japan and most places in the world.

She did this in 2010, quickly ran for office, and in 2011 won her first election. She would repeat the feat again in 2015, and again in 2019.

The hardest part about being a Japanese politician who was not born and raised in Japan, according to Ms. Inoue, is the language. Fortunately, her husband is an experienced politician who sometimes helps translate documents and prepare questions for committees and the General Assembly.

In addition to being a mother of a daughter (with her own political aspirations: she is the secretary of the student council in high school), Noemi enjoys walking her toy poodle, Lily.