Tomio Okamura

Early life and background

Born in Tokyo to a half-Japanese, half-Korean father, and a Moravian mother from the Zlín region, Okamura came to Czechoslovakia for the first time when he was six years old. He spent 10 years in Japan in total. He spent part of his childhood in a children's home in Mašťov near Podbořany where he experienced bullying, causing him to have a stutter until he was 20 years old.

In his youth he worked as a dustman and later a popcorn seller at a cinema in Japan. Okamura is fluent in Czech and Japanese.

Business career

He started his business career in 1994 mainly focused on the travel and gastronomy industries. He also started publishing a quarterly Pivní magazín ("Beer Magazine"). He is the author or co-author of several books. His book Tomio Okamura – Český sen ("Tomio Okamura - The Czech Dream") became a top 10 best-seller in the Czech Republic in 2010. In Spring 2011 his second book Umění vládnout ("The Art of Governance") was published. In 2012 he wrote a book Umění žít ("The Art of Living"). In 2013 he wrote two books – Umění přímé demokracie ("The Art of Direct Democracy") and Velká japonská kuchařka ("The Big Japanese Cookbook").

Okamura has links with a number of businesses including the Association of Czech Travel Agencies (Czech: Asociace českých cestovních kanceláří a agentur, AČCKA), where he was spokesman and vice-president. Other businesses Okamura has run include travel agent Miki travel and food shop Japa.

Okamura has been a judge on the Czech version of British BBC television programme Dragons' Den, known as Den D.

He has also served as a patron of the Endangered Children Fund (Czech: Fond ohrožených dětí, FOD).

Senate

In June 2012, Okamura, known previously as an advocate of direct democracy, announced his candidacy for the 2012 Czech Senate election as an independent candidate in Zlín. In the election, held in October, Okamura led after the first round of voting with over 30% of the vote. Okamura won in a run-off against Stanislav Mišák, taking more than 66% of the vote and winning a seat in the Senate on 20 October 2012.

As a Senator, in February 2013 he was among a group of senators to sign a proposal to prosecute president Vaclav Klaus for high treason, regarding the amnesty announced by Klaus on finishing his term¹⁴. The proposal was rejected by the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. Okamura also supported the constitutional amendment to abolish lifelong immunity for public officials.¹⁶ His Senatorial term expired on his election to the Chamber of Deputies.

2013 Presidential candidacy

Immediately following his victory in the election to the Senate, Okamura announced his intention to run for office in the 2013 Czech presidential election. Okamura's campaign submitted a list of 61,500 signatures¹⁹. However, on 23 November 2012, the Ministry of Interior announced that only 35,750 signatures could be validated, and his candidacy was therefore refused. He appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, which ruled that the Ministry of Interior had made an error while counting the signatures. Okamura appealed to the Ministry to re-calculate the signatures individually, rather than by estimation, but the appeal was denied.

In reaction to this verdict, Okamura announced that it was a "political decision", and questioned the independence of the judiciary. Rejecting the verdict of the Constitutional Court, Okamura denounced the verdict as unfair and claimed that it was not possible to obtain justice in the Czech Republic.

Dawn of Direct Democracy

In the 2013 parliamentary elections his party — Tomio Okamura's Dawn of Direct Democracy — obtained 342,339 votes (6.88%) and gained 14 seats. His previous senatorial mandate expired as a result of his election as a member of parliament.

Movement of Freedom and Direct Democracy

In May 2015 Okamura founded a new political grouping in the Czech chamber of deputies named the Movement of Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD). After registration, Okamura's SPD attracted 9,000 membership applications in the first three months, making the movement one of the largest political organisations in the Czech Republic.

The movement's stated political positions include patriotism, direct democracy, defence of the national interest against the EU, tightening of immigration laws and removing support for what it describes as maladjusted groups. Their other policies include: decent living conditions for seniors; extra support for families with children; rejection of any increase in tax; direct referenda and recall legislation; and criminal responsibility of politicians.

The Movement of Freedom and Direct Democracy is allied to the French Front National, and states support for an alternative political vision for Europe consisting of co-operation between nations, rather than a European superstate.

Personal life

In January 2012, it was reported that Okamura was dating a 20-year-old Czech student. He has a son named Ruy from his three-year marriage to a Japanese woman. He has two brothers: Hayato, an older brother working as an interpreter and translator, and Osamu, a younger brother working as an architect and university teacher.