Shimane 1st district

Shimane 1st district is a constituency of the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan.

History
Since the introduction of the Single-member district to Japan beginning in 1994, Hiroyuki Hosoda of the Liberal Democratic Party has been elected continuously, backed by the solid foundation of support the Hosoda family has built in Shimane, starting with Hiroyuki Hosoda's father, Kichizo Hosoda. Shimane also serves as a conservative kingdom for the LDP. Hiroyuki was extremely knowledgeable in elections; Noboru Takeshita praised him as "the most knowledgeable about poltiics outside of myself". In 2005, Hosoda became Chief Cabinet Secretary, and has additionally held the roles of Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party and Party Chairman of General Affairs. Due to this, Hosoda himself rarely returned to campaign in the district, but usually won by hefty margins, with no other candidates even winning a spot in the overall Chūgoku proportional representation block (outside of the 2009 Japanese general election, where Toshiaki Komuro managed to win a spot. He lost it in the 2012 Japanese general election).

The death of the Takeshita brothers (Noboru, along with Wataru Takeshita) has strained LDP influence in the prefecture. Additionally, Hiroyuki Hosoda himself died in October 2023. Prior to this, Hosoda's margin of victory had been halved; prior to 2017, he had won by nearly thirty points in every election. In the 2017 Japanese general election, this was cut down to twenty, and Akiko Kamei became the first opposition politician since 2009 to return on a proportional block. Despite her losing the proportional seat in the 2021 Japanese general election, Hosoda's margin of victory had been cut down to a further fifteen points. With Hosoda's death and extreme unpopularity relating to his sexual harassment scandals and ties to the Unification Church, the by-election due to occur in April 2024, were projected to be unusually close. The opposition unified around Akiko Kamei, who won with a clear majority, marking the first time an opposition delegate had ever been elected from Shimane since the introduction of FPTP seats.

Areas Covered
Additionally, the Liancourt Rocks are included in the district.
 * Matsue
 * Yasugi
 * Unnan
 * Nita District
 * Iishi District
 * Oki District