14 Facts About Hirokazu Nakaima

Hirokazu Nakaima is a Japanese bureaucrat, business leader, and politician.

Hirokazu Nakaima was elected governor of Okinawa Prefecture in 2006.

Hirokazu Nakaima is descended from a Chinese family with the surname of Cai, one of the 36 Han Chinese Kumemura families who moved to Okinawa in 1392.

Hirokazu Nakaima excelled in math and science, earning grades that placed him at the top of his class.

Hirokazu Nakaima passed the exam and matriculated at the University of Tokyo, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1961.

Directly after graduating in 1961, Hirokazu Nakaima joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

In 1987, Hirokazu Nakaima took a Senior General Manager position with the Okinawa Electric Power Company.

Hirokazu Nakaima returned to the Okinawa Electric Power Company in 1995, serving as the company's president and later chairman of the board of directors.

Hirokazu Nakaima assumed the office of Governor on December 10,2006.

Hirokazu Nakaima was re-elected for a second term on November 28,2010, defeating Yoichi Iha.

In December 2013, Hirokazu Nakaima approved a landfill proposal by the Japanese government to permit the construction of new military facilities in Henoko to replace Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

The decision came two days after Tokyo earmarked 348 billion yen for Okinawa's economic development and despite earlier campaign promises by Hirokazu Nakaima to move the base outside of the prefecture altogether.

On May 10,2014, Hirokazu Nakaima sent his congratulations to the openly revisionist lobby Nippon Kaigi for a sport event it held in Okinawa.

Hirokazu Nakaima lost his bid for a second re-election on November 16,2014, losing to former Naha mayor Takeshi Onaga.