Eriko Yamatani

Who is Eriko Yamatani?

Eriko Yamatani is a Japanese politician. Her real name is Eriko Ogawa 小川 恵里子.

Born in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan. Her father was a Sankei Shimbun newspaper reporter. She spent her childhood in Fukui city, where her wealthy family ran the geisha ryokan Beniya at Awara Onsen. Later her father was defeated in the general election, and, heavily in debt, the Yamatani family left Fukui for Tokyo. She attended the University of the Sacred Heart and worked in the United States for a publishing company. She became the editor-in-chief of Sankei Living Shimbun in 1985 and became known as an essayist and television personality.

In 1989 Yamatani ran for a seat in the House of Councillors as a Democratic Socialist Party candidate, but was defeated.

In June 2000, she was elected to the Diet of Japan on the Democratic Party of Japan ticket as a proportional representative. She left the party in 2002 to join the New Conservative Party. Though she had planned to run for the seat representing the Tokyo 3rd district in 2003, the emergence of Hirotaka Ishihara, son of Governor Shintaro Ishihara, forced her to run from the 4th district, where she was defeated. She then returned to the Diet as a proportional representative of the Liberal Democratic Party in 2004.