A key election in the Kansai region is slated to take place in July as five-term Hyogo Gov. Toshizo Ido steps down after two decades in power. But although Vice Gov. Kazuo Kanazawa is Ido’s preferred successor and expected to be the front-runner, he faces a large task in seeking to fill Ido's shoes, as younger voters may be seeking a new direction for the prefecture.
Ido, who turns 76 in August, first assumed the post in 2001. He is not the nation’s longest-serving governor — Ishikawa Gov. Masanori Tanimoto has been in power since 1994. Nor is he the oldest. Oita’s Katsusada Hirose has that honor, turning 79 this year. But Ido is Kansai’s longest-serving governor. His exit means the loss of a veteran politician, supported by the ruling parties, whose age, background, and temperament often put him at odds with neighboring Osaka and the younger generation of politicians there who launched the local Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka) and later the national Nippon Ishin no Kai political parties a decade ago.
When Ido took charge in 2001, the city of Kobe and Hyogo Prefecture were six years removed from the 7.3 magnitude Great Hanshin Earthquake, which hit the maximum 7 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale and left 6,434 people dead, over 43,000 injured, and forced more than 316,000 to evacuate. Nearly 250,000 buildings were heavily damaged or destroyed.