Yogendra Puranik
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Yogendra Puranik | |
|---|---|
 Yogi in September 2019 | |
| Member of the Edogawa City Council | |
| Assumed office 2 May 2019 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 June 1977 Ambarnath, Maharashtra, India |
| Political party | Constitutional Democratic |
| Alma mater | |
Yogendra Puranik (Japanese: プラニク ヨゲンドラ Puraniku Yogendora, Marathi: योगेंद्र पुराणिक; born 3 June 1977), is an Indian-born Japanese politician and the first person of Indian origin to win an election in Japan.[1][2][3][4][5] He was elected to the Tokyo's Edogawa City assembly as City Councillor in April 2019. He was supported by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.[6][7][8][9] For political purposes, he got nicknamed as よぎ.[10]
In April 2022, Puranik was appointed as the Principal of Tsuchiura First High School in Ibraraki prefecture.
Childhood
[edit]Puranik was born in Ambarnath, in the suburbs of Mumbai, India, on 3 June 1977. Rekha Puranik, his mother, worked as a stitch and teacher and Sharad Puranik, his father, worked as a machinist in the Ordnance Factory in Ambarnath. Puranik has an elder sister named Nilima Potnis and a younger brother named Rahul Puranik.
Education
[edit]Puranik started his schooling at Kendriya Vidyalaya (Central School) in Ambarnath. When Puranik reached 11th grade, his father was transferred to Pune. Puranik joined Kendriya Vidyalaya Southern Command and later passed the high school at Kendriya Vidyalaya Dehu Road in 1994. He then joined the Sir Parashurambhau College under the Pune University to study an undergraduate science program (Bachelor of Science) with specializations in physics and mathematics. He also joined the Foreign Languages Department (Ranade Institute) of Pune University to study Japanese and German languages, and Datamatics Corporation, a private information technology school, to study computer science.
Puranik graduated with a diploma in information technology in May 1996 and an advanced diploma in Japanese language in May 1997.[citation needed] He was awarded the Study Tour award, a scholarship from the Japan Foundation under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to visit Japan for a month in September 1997. This was when Puranik began to take an interest in Japan. He was awarded another scholarship by the Japan Foundation to study in Japan for an academic year in September 1999.
Puranik later left his studies in science and completed his bachelor's and master's degrees in international and labor economics from Pune University. He finished an International Business Management program from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, with a focus on strategies for doing global business. He attended the Skema Business School (previously known as ESC Lille) in France to study strategic project management including qualitative and quantitative analysis methods and research techniques.
Work
[edit]In April 1996, at the age of 18, Puranik started working for a small-scale IT company in Pune called Sutra Systems. He was also associated with Geometric Software Solutions, Mahindra British Telecom, and Keihin FIE Private Limited before moving to Japan in 2001. In Japan, he worked for the information technology companies Infosys Technologies Limited, Fujifilm, and Polaris Software Lab Limited before moving to Mizuho Bank in 2010 as vice president of operations strategy. Since then, Puranik has been in the banking field. His last position was at Rakuten Bank as vice director of corporate planning. He managed multiple departments including business planning, budget planning, business automation, fraud detection, and legal affairs.
Family
[edit]Puranik married Zhang Zhe, a professor of Japanese language, in August 2001. They had a son, Chinmay Puranik, on 7 June 2002. Puranik and Zhe divorced in April 2007 because of geographical choices.
Social life
[edit]Puranik's community work has been covered by media and television for many years. His community work after the March 2011 Eastern Japan Earthquake was widely noted by the media.
Puranik started an Indian restaurant Reka in Tokyo in February 2013 as a social venture to spread real Indian homestyle food in Japan. He opened his second restaurant at the end of 2016. He has also established the Edogawa India Culture Center where he hosts events around Indian classical music and dances.
Political career
[edit]In 2016, when there was a political movement in the Edogawa district of Tokyo to create a Little India, Puranik sensed that the model was not socially healthy and sustainable, and did not take into consideration the day-to-day needs of the society or community. The objectives of the project were influenced by a small number of people. As a volunteer, he tried to convince the local administration to consider public opinion, however, his efforts were unsuccessful.
Puranik announced his candidacy in the regional elections that took place in April 2019 in Japan. He won by a large margin. He is a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party, the largest opposition party in Japan.
Puranik unsuccessfully ran to represent Edogawa in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly in the 2021 election, finishing in 7th place out of 8 candidates, with 9.3% (20,109) of the vote within just 1 month of campaigning.[11]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Sudeep, Theres (21 November 2020). "Indian-origin politicians around the world". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
- ^ Megha Wadhwa (6 February 2020). "Yogendra 'Yogi' Puranik: The first Indian voice in Tokyo politics". Japan Times. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- ^ Ayako Hirayama (25 April 2021). "Indian-born politician drives for unity in diversity of Tokyo ward". The Japan News. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- ^ Pallavi Aiyar (6 July 2021). "In this book, meet Yogendra Puranik aka Yogi, Japan's first politician of Indian origin". Scroll. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- ^ Aiyar, Pallavi (8 June 2019). "The rare Indian face in Japan's political space". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- ^ "41-year-old man becomes first Indian to win an election in Japan". India Today. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
- "Indian-origin 'Yogi' wins ward assembly elections in Japan". The Indian Express. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019. - ^ "So much to be done in India, says a desi neta from Japan". Deccan Chronicle. 30 April 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- ^ "Foreign-born candidate shows Tokyo, all politics are local". Nikkei Asia. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- ^ Theres Sudeep (21 November 2020). "Indian-origin politicians around the world". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- ^ "プラニク・ヨゲンドラ", Wikipedia (in Japanese), 2 October 2024, retrieved 8 May 2025
- ^ "江戸川区 開票速報・結果 | 都議選2021 -東京都議会議員選挙-". NHK (in Japanese). 5 July 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
External links
[edit]- Reka Corp, a company managed by Yogendra Puranik