is a Japanese

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

who belongs to the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic ...

(DPJ) and was a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Sapporo, Hokkaidō and graduate of the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project b ...

, he was elected to the first of his five terms in the House of Representatives in 1969 as a member of the

Japan Socialist Party The was a socialist and progressive political party in Japan that existed from 1945 to 1996. The party was founded as the Social Democratic Party of Japan by members of several proletarian parties that existed before World War II, including ...

in the electoral district of his late father Setsuo. He left the House of Representatives and was elected to be the governor of

Hokkaidō is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

. He served for three terms from 1983 to 1995. After finishing his term as governor, he left the Socialist Party, joining the DPJ. In 1996 he was re-elected to the House of Representatives. He is the leader of the most left-leaning faction in the DPJ. After the victory of 2009 elections, then-DPJ President

Yukio Hatoyama is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 16 September 2009 to 8 June 2010. He was the first Prime Minister from the modern Democratic Party of Japan. First elected to the House of Representatives in 1986, Hat ...

named him as the next house speaker of the House of Representatives. In the 2012 general election Yokomichi lost his single-seat electorate but retained a seat in the Diet through the proportional representation system.

Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

br>Nothing left for the election-gutted DPJ to do but rebuild December 18, 2012
/ref> He managed to regain his seat in the 2014 election and held it until he retired in 2017.

References

External links

Official website
in Japanese. 1941 births Living people People from Sapporo University of Tokyo alumni Governors of Hokkaido Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) Speakers of the House of Representatives (Japan) Social Democratic Party (Japan) politicians Democratic Party of Japan politicians 21st-century Japanese politicians {{Japan-politician-1940s-stub