is a

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese politician and a former

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Kitakyushu, Japan is a city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fukuoka. It is one o ...

. A graduate of the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

, he was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

(parliament) for the first time in 1986 as a member of Democratic Socialist Party, which later became part of

Democratic Party of Japan The was a Centrism, centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to Centre-left politics, centre-left, Liberalism, liberal or Social liberalism, social-liberal List of political parties in Japan, ...

. After losing his seat in 1990, he was re-elected in 1993. In February 2007 he was elected mayor of Kitakyushu and went on to serve four terms, until 2023.

References

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* 1953 births Living people People from Nishinomiya University of Tokyo alumni 21st-century mayors of places in Japan Democratic Party of Japan politicians Democratic Socialist Party (Japan) politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1986–1990 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1993–1996 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1996–2000 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2000–2003 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2003–2005 Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 2005–2009 {{Japan-mayor-stub