Hiroshi Ogawa

Hiroshi Ogawa ( Japanese 小川 洋 , Ogawa Hiroshi ; born May 17, 1949 in Fukuoka , Fukuoka Prefecture ) is a Japanese politician, former official of the central government and since 2011 Governor of Fukuoka.

Ogawa, a graduate of the law faculty of the University of Kyoto , became a civil servant at MITI in 1972 , for which he worked, among other things, in the OCDE office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , in the SME authority and the authority for raw materials and energy . In 2001 he became a shingikan (position among the state secretaries ) in the Cabinet Office , then from 2002 in the Food Safety Committee of the Cabinet Office, before returning to MITI in 2003. In 2004 he left the ministerial bureaucracy and one year later became a consultant for the insurance company Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijō Kasai Hoken . In 2007 he became head of Naikaku-kōhō-shitsu , the "Cabinet PR Office" in the Cabinet Secretariat , a position he held under the Fukuda, Asō, Hatoyama and Kan cabinets. In September 2010 he returned to the private sector as a consultant for a few months.

For the gubernatorial election in Fukuoka 2011 on April 10, the long-time incumbent Wataru Asō had announced his withdrawal, and Ogawa announced his candidacy in February 2011, which was de facto supported by both major parties after internal disagreement over other candidates, although both on formal election recommendations waived. The only opposing candidate was the CPY-supported Takaaki Kimura. Ogawa received over 1.1 million votes with a low turnout and replaced Asō in April.

Web links

• Official Website (Japanese)
• Fukuoka Prefecture : Governor's Office (Japanese)