Morioka, Iwate Pref.

Former Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tokuichiro Tamazawa was shot at his home in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan, by a man on Tuesday, investigative sources said.

Tamazawa, 81, is not in a life-threatening condition, according to the sources.

The gunman handed himself in at a police station in the prefectural capital. The Iwate prefectural police department is investigating the incident.

After working as a university associate professor, Tamazawa, a native of Iwate, won a seat in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, for the first time in 1976.

Tamazawa served as head of the Defense Agency, now the Defense Ministry, as well as agriculture minister. He retired from politics in 2009. Tamazawa was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun in 2013.

Jiji Press