Yoshihiro Murai

Yoshihiro Murai (Japanese村井 嘉浩, Murai Yoshihiro, born August 20, 1960 in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture) is a Japanese politician and since 2005 the Governor of Miyagi Prefecture.

Murai is a former member of the ground self-defense forces. After graduating in 1984 from the Boei Daigakkō ( " National Defense Academy " ), he was a helicopter pilot in the " Army Group North " ( Tōhoku Homen Kokutai ). In 1992 he left the Self-Defense Forces in the rank of captain (1等 陆 尉, ITTO rikui ) and then visited the Matsushita Seikei Juku (松下 政 経 塾, Eng. Matsushita Institute of Government and Management).

1995 Murai was in the constituency Miyagino ( four seats) for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP ) for the first time elected to the Parliament of Miyagi Prefecture and then re-elected in 1999 and 2003. From 2002 to 2005 he was also secretary general of the LDP Miyagi. In 2005 he resigned his seat and his party affiliation to run as an independent candidate in the gubernatorial election to succeed Shiro Asano. He was assisted in the election campaign by the LDP.

In the election on October 23, 2005 Murai received around 363 thousand votes, which was above 50 thousand votes ahead of Masuyuki Maeba and well before the JCP candidates Hidetaka Deura. One of the campaign issues was a fund of police of Miyagi, which should be used to pay informants, but was blocked by Governor Asano after abuse allegations. On his first day in office Murai reactivated the Fund under the supervision of the audit committee of Miyagi. Further objects of his first term as governor were a reform of the prefecture Finance, the proposed settlement of several major companies in the automotive industry, disaster relief after the 2008 Iwate- Miyagi Nairiku Earthquake and security in the nuclear power plant Onagawa the Tōhoku Denryoku after 2007, the cover-up of an incident from 1998 had become public.

In the gubernatorial election 25 October 2009 Murai was re-elected to the support of the Democratic Party Yasuo Endō for a second term.

After the great quake on March 11 and the subsequent tsunami that caused havoc on the coast, he was doing in the area of ​​planning the reconstruction particularly apparent with the proposal for the establishment of " fishing Lichen special zones for reconstruction " (水产业 复兴 特区, Suisan - gyō fukkō tokku ), are controversial.