is a Japanese entrepreneur and politician. He founded the Watami chain of

izakaya An () is a type of informal Japanese bar that serves alcoholic drinks and snacks. are casual places for after-work drinking, similar to a pub, a Spanish tapas bar, or an American saloon or tavern. Etymology The word entered the English la ...

restaurants and headed the company until 2011, when he resigned to run in the 2011 Tokyo gubernatorial election. Watanabe's run for the governorship of Tokyo was inspired by

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

's mayorship of New York City. Watanabe came in third with 16.8%, losing to incumbent governor

Shintaro Ishihara was a Japanese politician and writer who was Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the radical right Japan Restoration Party, he was one of the most prominent ultranationalists in modern Japanese politics. An ultra ...

. Watanabe got opportunities to appear as a commentator on

NHK General TV , abbreviated on-screen as NHK G, is the main television service of NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster. Its programming includes news, drama, quiz/variety shows, music, sports, anime, and specials which compete directly with the output of its ...

, NHK Educational TV,

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

and Tokyo Broadcasting TV , raised his name recognition, and was elected to the

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, ...

representing the Liberal Democratic Party in the 2013 election.

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

had published his book from the affiliated publisher " NHK Publishing". As of January 2014, he was the wealthiest member of the House of Councillors with reported personal assets of 1.76 billion yen. He is a member of the Committee on Economy and Industry, Committee on Oversight of Administration, Special Committee on Reconstruction after the Great East Japan earthquake, and Research Committee on Deflation-Ending Measures and Strengthening Public Finance for Nationals' Life. The Watami group has faced criticism as a "

black company The Black Company or the Black Troops () was a unit of Franconian farmers and knights that fought on the side of the peasants during the Peasants' Revolt in the 1520s, during the Protestant Reformation in Germany. Name The original German nam ...

" for its harsh treatment of employees, and was voted the worst company in Japan to work for in 2012 and 2013. The 2008 suicide of Mina Mori, a Watami employee who had worked 140 hours of overtime was ruled a case of ''

karōshi , which can be translated into "overwork death", is a Japanese term relating to occupation-related sudden death. The most common medical causes of karoshi deaths are heart attacks and strokes due to stress and malnourishment or fasting. Menta ...

'' (death from overwork) by the Kanagawa Prefecture Labor Standards Office, who also accused the company of numerous labor law violations. In December 2015 Watami reached an out-of-court settlement of 130 million yen with the family and Watanabe apologised. In addition, at the

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to in ...

operated by Watanabe, due to carelessness of employees caused by their harsh labor, multiple death accidents occurred. Watanabe founded the School Aid Japan charity in 2001 to build schools and orphanages in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

and

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

. In Japan, Watanabe purchased an educational corporation which had been in financial difficulties due to the advice of Hirofumi Shimomura, a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

and one of

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Lib ...

's aides. Later, a media belonging to the Asahi Newspaper reported that Watanabe made a female staff of its educational corporation his mistress, like a sexual tool, and abandoned her like garbage with only a notification of mobile e-mail.ワタミ会長渡邉美樹氏禁断の「不倫」騒動
2011.2.16. AERA dot. The educational corporate officer who sympathized with her was fired. Watanabe is a billboard of Seminar companies of LGAT with Ikujiro Nonaka, Jitsuro Terashima and others. Watanabe is giving opportunities of the high school lecture he owns to the presidents of LGAT.夢達人ライブ青木仁志氏「できる」自分のつくり方
郁文館夢学園.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watanabe, Miki 1959 births Living people Japanese businesspeople Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Members of the House of Councillors (Japan) Tokyo gubernatorial candidates Members of the Royal Order of Monisaraphon