Hawkish Lower House member Shingo Nishimura, who was arrested Monday for violating the Attorneys Law, is no stranger to controversy, having drawn flak as a Defense Agency vice minister when he called for Japan to develop nuclear weapons and for remarking that punishment is the only reason why people don't naturally become rapists.
Democratic Party of Japan member Nishimura, 57, a native of Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, who has been elected to the House of Representatives five times since 1993, also sparked controversy in 1997 when he visited the Japan-controlled Senkaku islets in the East China Sea that China and Taiwan also claim.
Nishimura is the third son of the late Eiichi Nishimura, who once headed the now-defunct Democratic Socialist Party.
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