Tōru Hashimoto

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Tōru Hashimoto (橋下徹 Hashimoto Tōru, born as Hashishita Tōru, June 29, 1969-) is a Japanese lawyer, commentator, and the governor of Osaka Prefecture. He is the youngest incumbent governor in Japan.

1 Personal life
2 Gubernatorial election campaign
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Personal life

He was born in Shibuya, Tokyo and moved to Osaka, Osaka when he was in the fifth grade at elementary school^[1]. At Kitano High School, he played in the National High School Rugby Tournament as a member of the school rugby team, which was one of three champions from the Osaka Prefectural tournament.

He studied at Waseda University, and passed the bar examination in 1994 after his graduation, then became a lawyer in 1996.

After appearing on local TV programs in the Kansai area including Osaka for several years, he became a well-known TV personality when he started participating on nationally-televised program "Gyōretsu no dekiru hōritsu sōdanjo"(行列のできる法律相談所 Legal office which people queue up for) as one of four lawyers.

He is a father of three sons and four daughters with his high-school-friend wife.

[edit] Gubernatorial election campaign

There were rumours that he would run for Mayor of Osaka in 2007 because of his popularity and status as a lawyer, but he did not. After Fusae Ohta's announcement of her retirement after finishing her second term, he initially said that he had no intention to run for the gubernatorial campaign. But on December 12, 2007, after confirmed supports from the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito Party, he made an announcement that he would run in the gubernatorial race. He took more than 50% of vote in the election on January 27, 2008. He took up the post as governor on February 6, 2008.