Yoshihiko Noda

Yoshihiko Noda (野田佳彦 Noda Yoshihiko) was Prime Minister of Japan and leader of the Democratic Party of Japan from August 2011 to December 2012. He was previously Minister of Finance. Noda took office as prime minister months after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and accompanying Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, leading him to initiate a long-term policy of phasing out nuclear power in Japan as well as presiding over earthquake and tsunami reconstruction. He was re-elected party leader in September 2012 despite the departure of about 70 parliamentary party members, mostly loyal to rival faction leader Ichiro Ozawa. Noda called a general election later that year, but lost heavily to the Liberal Democratic Party.