A native of Nobeoka, Miyazaki, she has been a member of the House of Councillors since 1998,[2] was re-elected in 2004 and 2010,[1] and was the head of the Social Democratic Party of Japan (SDP), from 2003 to 2013.

[4] After graduating from the University of Tokyo with a Bachelor of Laws degree,[citation needed] she became a lawyer in 1987.

[citation needed] Fukushima was also Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety, Social Affairs, and Gender Equality in Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's cabinet (16 September 2009 – 28 May 2010); the SDP was the junior partner in the DPJ-led government coalition.

However, in May 2010 disagreements over the issue of the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma led to the sacking of Fukushima from the cabinet on 28 May and the SDP subsequently voted to leave the ruling coalition.

For three decades, she was at the forefront of an often futile fight against the utilities that operated Japan's nuclear reactors, the corporations that built them and the bureaucrats who enabled them.