Hase Hiroshi, who won the Ishikawa Prefecture gubernatorial election on March 13 was inaugurated as  Ishikawa ’s governor on March 27.

Mr. Hase was once elected into the Japanese House of Councilors, the upper house of the National Diet and three times into the Japanese House of Representatives, the lower house. He also served as Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. He expressed his willingness to make Ishikawa the happiest prefecture in Japan based on his many years of political experience and wide range of networks.

Ishikawa Prefecture joined the North East Asia Regional Convention in 1995 as a founding member and greatly contributed to the establishment of the Association of North East Asia Regional Governments in 1996.

On March 24, NEAR Secretary-General Kim Ok-chae sent a congratulatory letter to the newly elected governor Mr. Hase and asked Ishikawa Prefecture to continue in its assistance and cooperation for NEAR’s activities and events.