31 Facts About Yoshihiko Noda

Yoshihiko Noda is the current leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, and has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2000.

Yoshihiko Noda was succeeded as Prime Minister by Shinzo Abe, President of the Liberal Democratic Party, on 26 December 2012.

In 2021, Yoshihiko Noda joined the CDP, the primary successor to the DPJ.

In 2024, Yoshihiko Noda successfully stood for the CDP's party presidential election, defeating incumbent leader Kenta Izumi and former leader Yukio Edano.

Yoshihiko Noda was born in Funabashi on 20 May 1957, the son of a paratrooper in the Japan Self-Defense Forces.

Unlike many prominent Japanese politicians, Yoshihiko Noda has no family connections to Nagatacho.

Yoshihiko Noda's parents were too poor to pay for a wedding reception.

Yoshihiko Noda graduated from Chiba Prefectural Funabashi Senior High School in 1975.

Yoshihiko Noda was first elected to the assembly of Chiba Prefecture in 1987 at the age of 29.

Yoshihiko Noda later joined the Democratic Party of Japan and successfully contested Chiba 4th in the 2000 election.

In October 2005, Yoshihiko Noda criticized Prime Minister Jun'ichiro Koizumi for his position on Japanese class A war criminals as "war criminals".

Yoshihiko Noda acted as senior vice finance minister during the premiership of Yukio Hatoyama after the DPJ won control of the Diet in 2009 general election, and was appointed as Minister of Finance by Prime Minister Naoto Kan in June 2010.

Yoshihiko Noda was known as a reformist and had led a DPJ intraparty group critical of ex-DPJ powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa.

Yoshihiko Noda won a runoff vote against Banri Kaieda in the leadership election, making him the presumptive prime minister.

Yoshihiko Noda inherited the challenge of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami reconstruction plans.

Yoshihiko Noda told his foreign policy and was said to have close relations with the United States, and stressed the importance of the US-Japan security alliance in August 2011 speech.

Ishihara wished to build facilities on the islands to more obviously claim them as Japanese territory, a move which the national government under Yoshihiko Noda regarded as likely to exacerbate tensions with China.

On 10 August 2012, Yoshihiko Noda survived a no-confidence vote after proposing a five-percent increase in the sales tax.

Yoshihiko Noda received praise for passing the consumption tax hike despite intense opposition, but was criticized for bringing the DPJ closer in substance to its rival LDP, rather than keeping the campaign promises by which it defeated the LDP in 2009.

On 21 September 2012, Yoshihiko Noda won the DPJ's leadership bi-annual election by 818 points out of 1,231.

Yoshihiko Noda defeated former agriculture ministers Michihiko Kano and Hirotaka Akamatsu, as well as former internal affairs minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi.

On 14 November 2012, Yoshihiko Noda stated that the diet would be dissolved on 16 November 2012, and the election would be held on 16 December 2012.

Yoshihiko Noda immediately announced his resignation as president of the DPJ in order to take responsibility for the defeat.

Yoshihiko Noda delivered a funeral oration of Abe on 25 October 2022 in the plenary session of the House of Representatives.

In late August 2024, Yoshihiko Noda announced his intention to run in the Constitutional Democratic Party presidential election the following month, challenging the incumbent leader Kenta Izumi.

Yoshihiko Noda appointed his Next Cabinet on 30 September 2024.

Yoshihiko Noda has been married to Hitomi since 1992 and has two sons.

Yoshihiko Noda wrote a book entitled Enemy of the DPJ: Government Change Has a Good Cause.

Yoshihiko Noda said one of his favorite movies is the 1939 film Mr Smith Goes to Washington, which tells the story of a US senator who single-handedly fights against political corruption.

Yoshihiko Noda is a fan of professional wrestling and has stated that Kenta Kobashi is his favorite wrestler.

On 11 May 2013, Yoshihiko Noda attended Kobashi's retirement event, Final Burning in Budokan, in Tokyo's Nippon Budokan.