YOGI wins elections in Japan. Aspires to become Mayor
Yogi has scripted a golden chapter in the history of Japan to become first Indian to contest and win municipal elections there.
The 41-year ‘young’ Yogendra Puranik or Yogi as he is popularly known in Japan, who has made Indians proud by becoming the first person of Indian origin to contest and win City Council Councilor Elections in Japan on April 22, may contest for the post of Mayor in next elections, the sources close to him have revealed.
With his historic win in the Edogawa-Ku, which is one of the 23 municipal wards of Tokyo, Yogi has paved the way for more Indians living in Japan to try their luck in elections too in Japan. Japan has about 44,000 Indians living in there, and about 4500 of which stay in Edogawa alone, besides Koreans and Chinese nationals.
Hitherto, Indian professionals are popular in Japan for their information technology (IT) and engineering skills.
Yogi represents the Constituent Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), a major opposition party in the country.
Yogi who hails from Pune, Maharashtra has been staying in Japan for 20 years, and had put his feet at its soil as a student in 1997 but had come back as an engineer in 2001 to work here. His last job was with Mizuho Bank where he worked as Vice President – Operations Strategy. After this, he had made his plunge in social life and started his political journey.
His major social presence was felt during the Great East Japan Earthquake when he had visited the affected areas in Edogawa where he served the victims with food and other requirements.
Living in Edogawa for 15 years, Yogi also worked at senior positions with companies like PolarisSoftware Lab, Infosys Technologies, Keihin Fie and Mahindra British Telecom.
He studied Project Management at SKEMA Business School and completed a Masters degree in International Economics and Management at Pune University after going in for Research Training at The Japan Foundation, Japanse Language Institute, Japan.
Yogi also studied Business Program at Indian Institute of Management (IIM)n – Kolkata, learned Chinese, Mandarin at Shenzhen University after studying B.Sc. in Physics, BA in Economics at Sir Parashurambhau College and completing Advance Diploma in Japanese at Pune University.
However, the election campaign launched by Yogi included he making speeches on public address system at market places, railway stations, and various communities.
The sitting MP of Constituent Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), had picked up Yogi to contest elections from Edogawa. The CDP is led by an intelligent and effective leader Yukio Edano.
