is a Japanese politician and the current

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

. He is a native of Morioka and 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 ...

Biography

Tasso joined the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

in 1988, receiving a master's degree in

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

in the United States while with the ministry. In 1996, 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 ...

in the Diet (national legislature) for the first time as a member of the New Frontier Party and subsequently served as a diet member for the

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, ...

. He was first elected governor of Iwate prefecture in 2007 and as of 2012 is in his second four-year term. On July 9, 2012, he announced that he would sever his ties with the DPJ and join Putting People's Lives First, the new party led by Ichiro Ozawa.

References

External links

* 1964 births Living people People from Morioka, Iwate University of Tokyo alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni New Frontier Party (Japan) politicians Governors of Iwate Prefecture Politicians from Iwate Prefecture 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-politician-1960s-stub