Hirohiko Izumida

Hirohiko Izumida (Japanese泉 田 裕 彦, Izumida Hirohiko; born September 15, 1962 in Kamo, Niigata Prefecture) is a Japanese politician and Governor of Niigata Prefecture since 2004.

Life

After completing his studies at the Law Faculty of the University of Kyoto in 1987 Izumida officer was at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry ( MITI). In 1992, he joined the Economic Planning Agency. In 1994, he toured for a year as a researcher at the University of British Columbia. He then returned to the ministerial bureaucracy and worked among others as Head of the Minister Secretariat in MITI, in succession Ministry METI and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. In 2003 he left temporarily the central government and worked in the office of the Governor of Gifu.

Mid-2004 Izumida into politics to run in his home prefecture of Niigata to succeed the Governor Ikuo Hirayama independent. With the support of the national government parties LDP and Kōmeitō he won the election on 17 October 2004 with 344 904 votes and nearly 50,000 votes ahead of Taga Hidetoshi, who was supported by the Social Democrats. A few days later, two days before his inauguration, the Niigata Chuetsu - earthquake, which claimed 40 lives and left severe damage to the infrastructure of the prefecture occurred. The supply of several thousand evacuees and the elimination of certain damages initially largely Izumidas work as governor. Also the Niigata Chuetsu - Coast Earthquake 2007 fell into his tenure.

Izumida was re-elected on 10 October 2008 with 83.25 % of the vote against the candidate supported by the JCP Eizo Yamazaki for a second term.