Date of birth: Nov. 1, 1952

Party: LDP

Electoral district: Lower House; Gifu No. 5 district (eighth term)

Having served as secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's father, the late Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe, Furuya is known as a close ally of the LDP chief and for being well-versed on the Japanese abductees issue.

Under the first administration of Junichiro Koizumi, Furuya was appointed vice trade minister. But he voted against Koizumi's key postal system privatization legislation in 2005 and defected from the LDP. After retaining his Lower House seat for a sixth term, as an independent, he returned to the party.

Considered a rightwinger, Furuya's position is that the Imperial Japanese Army was not guilty of forcing women and girls into sexual slavery across Asia to service its troops during the war. He also opposes granting foreign residents local-level suffrage.

Furuya is a fourth-generation Lower House member.