in September 2007 in April 2015 Machimura was elected to his first term in the House of Representatives in the December 1983 election, and he was re-elected in each election since. He became Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture on 11 September 1997, as part of Prime Minister
Ryutaro Hashimoto's second cabinet, and became State Secretary for Foreign Affairs on 31 July 1998, in
Keizō Obuchi's first cabinet. In March 2000, he became Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, serving under Obuchi and his successor,
Yoshirō Mori. On 5 December 2000, he became Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture and Director-General of the Science and Technology Agency, before becoming Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology on 6 January 2001. In 2006, Machimura became chairman of the
Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai, the LDP's largest faction. As such, on 14 September 2007, he backed Yasuo Fukuda's bid to become Abe's successor, following Abe's resignation on 12 September. Since 2007, Machimura had co-chaired his faction alongside
Hidenao Nakagawa and
Shūzen Tanigawa. In Fukuda's government, sworn in on 16 September 2007, Machimura became Chief Cabinet Secretary and State Minister in charge of abduction issues. He was replaced by
Takeo Kawamura in the cabinet of prime minister
Taro Aso, which was appointed on 24 September 2008. He was the vice president of the
Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union. ==Personal life==