Date of birth: May 23, 1954

Party: LDP

Electoral district: Lower House; Tokyo No. 11 (sixth term)

Shimomura's interest in the field of education began well before he entered the Diet in 1996.

On his website, Shimomura narrates losing his father at age 9 and being raised in a family struggling with financial hardship, turning him into a passionate advocate of every child's right to receive a good education regardless of their household's resources. While he was a student at Waseda University, he started to operate a cram school.

Shimomura served two terms as a Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member, and joined the Diet after winning a Lower House seat in the 1996 election. He served as deputy chief Cabinet secretary during Shinzo Abe's first stint as prime minister in 2006.

He is known for his conservative stand on sensitive historical issues, including the wartime sex slaves and the Nanjing Massacre.