Mizuho Umemura

Mizuho Umemura (born September 10, 1978, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese politician who has served as a member of the House of Councillors of Japan since 2019. She represents the Osaka district and is a member of the Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party).[1]

Umemura stated that she is a shukyo nisei and traumatized since her mother has been psychologically manipulated by a cult.[2]

On May 12, 2023, Umemura faced intense scrutiny over her statement about the death of Wishma Sandamali in a Nagoya detention facility in 2021 during the deliberation about the revision of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act. She remarked that "Wishma, as possibly told by the foreigner assisting group, might have a faint hope of parole [from deportation], should she fake her illness via hunger strike". That statement was immediately criticized by other members in the committee as "untrue" and "absurd".[3] On May 18, 2023, Ishin Secretary-General Fumitake Fujita announced that Umemura was dismissed from her upper house judicial affairs committee assignment for her problematic remarks.[4][5] Subsequently her Ishin party membership was suspended for 6 months effective from May 26, 2023.[6]