was the mayor of Shizuoka, Shizuoka

Shizuoka, Shizuoka

is the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, and the prefecture's second-largest city in terms of both population and area. It became one of Japan's 19 "designated cities" in 2005.-Geography:...

 in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 until April, 2011, when he was succeeded by Tanabe Nobuhiro. A graduate of the University of Tokyo

University of Tokyo

, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...

, he was first elected mayor in 1998 after serving in the assembly of Shizuoka Prefecture

Shizuoka Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Shizuoka.- History :Shizuoka prefecture was formed from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces.The area was the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun...

 for three terms.

In 1971, after college, he went to work at the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank

Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank

The , abbreviated as , was one of the largest banks in the world during the latter half of the 20th century. It combined with Fuji Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan in 2000 to form Mizuho Financial Group....

 (now Mizuho Bank

Mizuho Bank

is the core retail banking unit of Mizuho Financial Group, which is the second-largest financial services company in Japan and one of the three so-called Japanese "megabanks"...

) where he stayed until 1979. In 1979 he was elected to the Shizuoka Prefectural Assembly.