Yasuo Tanaka
| Yasuo Tanaka | |
|---|---|
| 田中 康夫 | |
 |
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| Governor of Nagano Prefecture | |
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In office 26 October 2000 – 31 August 2006 |
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| Preceded by | Goro Yoshimura |
| Succeeded by | Jin Murai |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 12, 1956 Tokyo, Japan |
| Political party | New Party Nippon |
| Alma mater | Hitotsubashi University |
Yasuo Tanaka (田中 康夫 Tanaka Yasuo?, born April 12, 1956) is a Japanese novelist and politician. He served as the governor of Nagano Prefecture from 2000 to 2006, became president of New Party Nippon, and has been elected to Japan's legislatures.
Tanaka was born in Musashino, Tokyo, and moved to Nagano at the age of 8 when his father became a professor at Shinshu University. He initially failed the university entrance exams in 1975 and spent the next year studying in Tokyo to retake them. In 1976 he entered the Faculty of Law at Hitotsubashi University. He received the Bungei Prize in 1980 for his first novel, Nantonaku, Crystal Feeling, while still a student. He graduated in the same year and briefly worked for the Mobil Oil Corporation for three months before leaving to continue his career as a writer. Tanaka married after graduating from university but divorced 11 months later.
In 2000, Tanaka was elected governor of Nagano Prefecture, a rural prefecture in Japan, standing as an independent without the support of any major Japanese political party. Soon after, Tanaka became a focus of public attention in Japan for policies that represented a radical departure from the priorities of the Japan's bureaucratic establishment. These included his policy of halting dam building, campaigning for environmental issues and abolishing the Nagano Press Club.
These policies were designed to address ruinous public development projects that had left Nagano and many other prefectures burdened by debts. Japan is one of the most heavily dammed countries in the world with more than 3,000 dams and virtually no unobstructed rivers.
In 2002, conservative assemblymen who were upset by Tanaka's challenge to decades of pork-barrel politics forced him from office by passing a vote of no-confidence. But in the ensuing election, Tanaka made a successful comeback, thanks to overwhelming popular vote.
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