Japanese lawmaker of Uyghur descent Arfiya Eri named LDP deputy secretary-general

Arfiya Eri, a member of Japan’s House of Representatives, has been appointed a deputy secretary-general of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, she announced on X on Sept. 25, first in Japanese and later in English. In the posts, she said she had concluded her term at the Foreign Ministry the previous week.

Eri served as Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs in Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s second cabinet, formed in November 2024, and continued in the post under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, according to the Prime Minister’s Office. In her post, she described the tenure as three consecutive terms under two prime ministers.

In the English post, Eri wrote that in her new party role she would work on “supporting and modernizing the Party’s operations,” and that she would ensure voters in her district, Ichikawa and Urayasu, are reflected in policymaking.

Born in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, to a Uyghur father and an Uzbek mother, Eri became a Japanese citizen in 1999 at age 10, according to The Japan Times. She studied at Georgetown University and previously worked as an official for the Bank of Japan and the United Nations. She was first elected to the lower house in an April 2023 by-election for Chiba’s 5th district. She lost the district race in the October 2024 general election but returned to the Diet through the Southern Kanto proportional representation block, and won back the Chiba 5 seat in February 2026, as reported by the Yomiuri Shimbun.