is a single-member electoral district of the Japanese House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet. It is located in the prefecture of Nagasaki and covers northern parts of the prefecture on the main island of Kyūshū and the Gotō Islands. Most of the population lives in or around the city of Sasebo.
History
Before the electoral reform of 1994, the area had formed part of the four-member Nagasaki 2nd district. Two of the last representatives from the pre-reform 2nd district, Kazuo Torashima (LDP) and Masahiko Yamada (JRP), contested the new single-member 4th district in 1996. Torashima won, he was appointed defence minister in the 2nd Mori Cabinet in 2000. In the 2003 election, he retired and was succeeded by Yaichi Tanigawa. In the landslide election of 2009, Yamada won the district for the first time. Tanigawa regained the seat in 2012, and held it until he resigned in 2024 due to his involvement in the 2023–2024 Japanese slush fund scandal.
In September 2011, 211,289 eligible voters were registered in Nagasaki 3rd district, giving it the second highest vote weight in the country.Ministry of general affairs: 平成23年9月2日現在選挙人名簿及び在外選挙人名簿登録者数, p. 9 Due to reapportionment, Nagasaki lost one seat in 2022 and the boundaries of the district changed significantly. Only Higashisonogi District, the Gotō Islands and a part of Sasebo remained in the 3rd. All other municipalities were transferred to the 3rd from the abolished Nagasaki 4th district.
The former incumbent of the 4th district, Yōzō Kaneko, won the district in 2024. Kaneko is from a long established political family in the area; his father, Genjirō Kaneko, was a Governor of Nagasaki Prefecture and a cabinet minister, and his grandfather, Iwazō Kaneko, was Minister of Agriculture in the First Nakasone Cabinet.
Area Kyūshū Island Sasebo Hirado Matsuura Saikai Saza Town Towns of Higashisonogi District Gotō Islands Gotō Shin-Kamigotō Town Ojika Town
List of representatives Election Representative Party Notes1996 Liberal Democratic20002003Yaichi Tanigawa Liberal Democratic20052009 Masahiko Yamada Democratic Tax Cuts Japan Tomorrow2012Yaichi Tanigawa Liberal Democratic Resigned in 2024201420172021 IndependentVacant (January 2024 - April 2024)2024 by-elKatsuhiko Yamada CDP Moved to the 2nd district2024 Yōzō Kaneko LDPMoved from the 4th district2026
Election results Note: The decimals stem from anbunhyō, see Elections in Japan.
References