Mie Prefecture Governor Hidetaka Suzuki: "Because I'm a lonely person, I can create politics that people can empathize with."

■ Profile

Born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1974. After graduating from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tokyo, he joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (now the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). In 2011, he became the Governor of Mie Prefecture, and is currently serving his third term. He has a wife and two children. The person he respects is Sakamoto Ryoma. His motto is, "Those without dreams have no ideals. Those without ideals have no plans. Those without plans have no action. Those without action have no success. Therefore, those without dreams have no success" (Yoshida Shoin).

Governor Suzuki Hidetaka was first elected as the governor of Mie Prefecture in 2011, becoming the youngest incumbent governor in the country at the age of 36.
He has been actively working to bring about reforms in all areas, including winning the Ikumen of the Year award himself. We spoke to him about the roots of his dedication to making Mie Prefecture a more livable place and building relationships that are loved and trusted by the people.

■ A strong desire to "involve everyone"

Ever since I was little, I loved doing fun things. I was the type to take the initiative to become a class representative or student council president. The reason was that I had a strong desire to come up with fun things and get everyone involved in them. I think I'm probably a very lonely person. I wanted to do fun things and be with everyone. This was also the case at university. I moved to Tokyo for university, and someone would come over to my lonely house every day (laughs). I spent most of my time in a tennis club during university. I also had a lot of different part-time jobs, such as working as a private tutor, operator, and staff member at Yamato Transport, and it was all really fun. Through these experiences, I met a lot of people. I made many friends who shared my values ​​and who I still keep in touch with today. It was a very fulfilling experience.

■ Think about job hunting from your own perspective

During the summer of my third year of university, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to be in the future. As a result, I came to the conclusion that "I don't know what I want to do, I just want to work in a place where there are interesting people." Therefore, I looked for jobs broadly, without narrowing it down to "office worker at a regular company" or "civil servant."
Looking back now, I think the important thing about job hunting was where to base your own standards. Just because you finish your job hunting early and get a job at a large company doesn't mean that it's a good company for you. Rather than going to a large company just because it's popular, I think it's more important in job hunting to seriously think about how you'll work after you get hired. This is because you have to take responsibility for your own life. That's why I think you should go about your job hunting by trusting your own standards, rather than looking at what others are saying.
In my case, in order to determine what kind of work I wanted to do after getting a job, I spoke to people in various places and asked around about what kind of interesting people there were. I also visited around 10 government agencies and spoke to them. As a result, I decided to join the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (now the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), as I had heard that there were many interesting people there and that it was a place where I could gain a lot of experience.

■ I want to move things forward with people who empathize and trust me.

I've always been interested in politics, but this desire only grew stronger after I joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. When I became a staff member for Prime Minister Abe, I felt strongly that I wanted to be someone who was trusted by the people and who could get things done, rather than just logically creating options in the government. There was a lack of empathy in politics today. So I decided to aim for politics that was more in tune with the feelings of the people and that would generate understanding and empathy. So I decided to leave my job as a bureaucrat and run an election campaign in Mie Prefecture, my father's registered domicile, in order to become more actively involved in politics.
After the first election, I joined the Junior Chamber of Commerce and had the opportunity to work on promoting Mie Prefecture. There, I felt a strong sense of regret that "Mie has many good things to offer, but they aren't being properly communicated. It's a shame." With this desire to "spread the appeal of the region even more," I decided to run for governor.

The governor's job is to "decide" and "explain"

I believe the job of a governor can be broadly divided into two parts. The first is making decisions, and the second is explaining things. I held 275 press conferences in the fiscal year 2020. In the 10 years since I took office as governor, I have held 1,482 press conferences. I believe it is important to explain things to people and gain their sympathy through press conferences and other opportunities on a daily basis, not just in times of crisis. I believe this is why I have been able to gain the trust and cooperation of the people of the prefecture even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

■ Making Mie Prefecture a more attractive town

One of the most memorable experiences I had as Governor of Mie Prefecture was the G7 Ise-Shima Summit. The first G7 Summit was held in Japan in 1979 in Tokyo, but until Ise-Shima, the only locations Japan had used to host summits were Tokyo, Okinawa, and Hokkaido. I am extremely proud that the next location chosen was Mie, a "normal" prefecture.
In hosting this summit, I was very conscious of the idea of ​​"improving the town through the hands of the citizens." This is something I have always valued in my duties as governor. Rather than just the administration getting excited, the citizens of the prefecture should think for themselves, come to an agreement, and work hard together. By doing this, I believe we can create a town that people will feel attached to, rather than it being someone else's problem.
So, before the Ise-Shima Summit, all 29 cities and towns planted flowers to show their hospitality, and also provided an initiative called "Summit School Lunches" to give elementary and junior high school students the opportunity to learn about the summit.
Mie Prefecture is also famous for its sake. While sake consumption is currently declining in Japan, sales at sake breweries in Mie Prefecture have increased compared to before the summit. This is because the brewers have been thinking and working hard on their own. Through the Ise-Shima Summit, many of the prefecture's residents learned how to innovate with their own hands, and by actually creating innovation, they were able to establish a sense of pride in themselves. For this reason, I feel that the 2016 Ise-Shima Summit was a major catalyst for improving the prefecture as a whole.

■Towards an era where everyone can live in the place they desire

My current goal is to create a society where everyone can continue to live wherever they want. Even if there is a place they want to live, if there is a lack of transportation, hospitals, or schools, they cannot choose that place as their residence. This is why I have taken the lead in areas such as medical care, education, child-rearing, and disaster prevention. As part of this, we have been ranked number one in the nation for male ikuboss (work-friendly bosses) by improving disaster prevention facilities and the child-rearing environment. Furthermore, we are ranked 11th in the nation in terms of the number of doctors who have increased over the past 10 years.
In today's Japan, young people are migrating to cities to work, while the elderly remain in the countryside, resulting in a situation where beautiful scenery cannot be preserved. Is this really a good thing for Japan? If environmental improvements are made in rural areas as well, there will be no need for Tokyo to be so concentrated. People's life cycles vary. More people would be happier if they were able to choose their own life cycles. This is why I want to advance my "Remodeling the Japanese Archipelago in the Reiwa Era" theory, aiming to create a Japan where everyone can continue to live where they want to live.

■ University is the time to come into contact with different values

My own university life was truly enjoyable. A big part of that was meeting people who shared the same ideas and values. While I feel like I met a wide variety of people during my student days, there are times when I wish I had spoken to more people with diverse values. Humans tend to take the easy route if we aren't conscious of it. While interacting with people with different values ​​can be difficult at times, I believe it's necessary if we are to live in a diverse society in the future. Once you enter society, there will be many situations where you must accept completely different values ​​and move forward. Even if you find yourself struggling, I believe it's important for growth to not shut yourself out of relationships and to engage with many people without being picky. While cherishing friends who share your values, I hope you will interact with a variety of people as you move toward your future.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on July 14, 2021 by Aki Kawanami, a fourth-year student at Tsuda University