Nobuto Hosaka is a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 and member of the House of Representatives

House of Representatives of Japan

The is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the upper house.The House of Representatives has 480 members, elected for a four-year term. Of these, 180 members are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation,...

 for the Social Democratic Party

Social Democratic Party (Japan)

The Social Democratic Party The Social Democratic Party The Social Democratic Party (社会民主党 Shakai Minshu-tō, often abbreviated to 社民党 Shamin-tō; also known as the Social Democratic Party of Japan (abbreviated to SDPJ or SDP in English) is a political party that advocates for the establishment of a...

. He is currently the mayor of Setagaya, Tokyo

Setagaya, Tokyo

is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo in Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood within the ward. The ward calls itself the City of Setagaya in English...

.

He criticized a Japanese moral panic

Moral panic

A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics and credited creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of...

 which occurred when Kaoru Kobayashi murdered a 7-year-old girl.

Hosaka opposes the death penalty, and holds the position of secretary general of the Parliamentary League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty.

In 2006 and 2007, Hosaka joined the gay parade in Tokyo. His boss Mizuho Fukushima

Mizuho Fukushima

is a Japanese politician. She has been a member of the House of Councillors since 1998, was re-elected in 2004 and 2010,and is the current chair of the Social Democratic Party of Japan, a position she has held since 2003....

also joined with him in 2007.

He is also involved in the anti-nuclear movement.