Date of birth: July 31, 1956

Party: Democratic Party of Japan

Electoral district: Lower House; Tokyo No. 3 (fourth term)

Matsubara will serve both as consumer affairs minister and state minister in charge of the North Korean abduction issue.

After graduating from Waseda University, Matsubara entered the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, which claims Yoshihiko Noda as an alumnus, in 1981.

The Tokyo native started his political career by winning a seat in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly in 1989 and served two terms. He entered the Diet as a Lower House member in 2000 and became senior vice land minister in Noda's first Cabinet.

Matsubara is one of the more conservative members of the DPJ and has taken a high interest in the abductions, chairing a special committee on the issue in the Lower House in 2009.

His hobbies are reading books, listening to music and swimming.