National News

Norihisa Satake, right, and his wife rejoice at his election campaign office in Akita, Akita Prefecture, on Sunday evening. (Mainichi)

AKITA -- Independent newcomer Norihisa Satake won the Akita gubernatorial election on Sunday, beating opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)-backed Hiroshi Kawaguchi, amongst others.

Satake, 61, is a former Akita mayor, who was backed by the prefectural chapter of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and other groups. Sunday's voter turnout was 67.39 percent.

The election was an evaluation test for incumbent Sukeshiro Terada's three-term governorship, during which he took a top-down approach to administrative reforms and the nationwide academic aptitude test for elementary and junior high school students.

The election also represented a divide in power balance of the central government. Satake's archrival and former Kosaka mayor Kawaguchi was backed by Gov. Terada and the DPJ's Akita prefectural chapter, while Satake was backed by not only the LDP but also the prefectural chapter of the opposition Social Democratic Party and the Akita branch of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) -- which were both critical of Terada's governorship.

Other candidates included former Ugo mayor Shoichiro Sato, 56, and Kaneji Fujimoto, 62, a member of the Japanese Communist Party's Akita prefectural committee.

Descended from an Akita domain lord from the Edo Period, Satake is the 21st head of the Satakekita family, from the city of Senboku, Akita Prefecture. After working for the Akita Prefectural Government, he first ran for the governorship in 1997 but was defeated by Terada. Satake subsequently became Akita mayor and served as the head of the Japan Association of City Mayors.