Yogendra Puranik
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Yogendra Puranik | |
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Member of the Edogawa City Council | |
Assumed office 2 May 2019 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Ambarnath, Maharashtra, India | 3 June 1977
Political party | Constitutional Democratic |
Alma mater |
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Yogendra Puranik (Japanese: プラニク ヨゲンドラ, Marathi: पुराणिक योगेंद्र; born 3 June 1977), commonly referred to as Yogi, 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]
Childhood[]
Puranik was born in Ambarnath, in the suburbs of Mumbai, India, on 3 June 1977 to Rekha Puranik, his mother, who worked as a stitch and teacher and Sharad Puranik, his father, who worked as a machinist in the Ordnance Factory in Ambarnath. Puranik has an elder sister named Nilima Potnis and younger brother named Rahul Puranik.[citation needed]
Education[]
Puranik started his schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya (Central School) Ambarnath.[citation needed] In the middle of 11th grade, his father was transferred to Pune, following which he joined Kendriya Vidyalaya Southern Command and later passed the high school from Kendriya Vidyalaya Dehu Road in 1994. He then joined the Sir Parashurambhau College under the Pune University to study an undergraduate program in science (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 and Datamatics Corporation, a private information technology school, to study computer science.[citation needed]
Puranik graduated with his diploma in information technology in May 1996 and advanced diploma in Japanese language in May 1997.[citation needed] Yogi 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 Yogi began being attracted towards Japan. He was again awarded a scholarship by The Japan Foundation to study in Japan for one academic year in September 1999.[citation needed]
Puranik later left studying science and completed his bachelors and master's degrees in international and labor economics from Pune University.[citation needed] He finished an International Business Management program from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, with a focus on strategies for doing global business.[citation needed] Puranik attended Skema Business School (previously known as ESC Lille) in France to study strategic project management including qualitative and quantitative analysis methods and research techniques.[citation needed]
Work[]
In April 1996, Puranik started working for a small scale IT company in Pune called Sutra Systems.[citation needed] He was also associated with Geometric Software solutions, Mahindra British Telecom and Keihin FIE Private Limited before moving to Japan in 2001.[citation needed] In Japan, Puranik 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 where he managed departments for business planning, budget planning, business automation, fraud detection and legal affairs, before taking the position of city councilor.[citation needed]
Family[]
Puranik married Zhang Zhe, a professor of Japanese Language, in August 2001. They had a baby boy, Chinmay Puranik, on 7 June 2002. Due to geographical preferences, Puranik and Zhe decided to divorce in April 2007.[citation needed] Chinmay stays with Puranik in Japan.[citation needed] He has studied in the Indian international school, Japanese public school and a school in Reading, United Kingdom.[citation needed]
Social life[]
Puranik started Indian Home Food Restaurant Reka in Tokyo in February 2013 as a social venture to spread the real Indian home food in Japan[citation needed]
Puranik opened his second restaurant at the end of 2016 and with this he established the Edogawa India Culture Center where he hosts around 50 live concerts every year mainly around Indian classical music and dances and collaborates with music and art from other countries. This center also hosts weekly classes for Yoga, music, Indian languages, Indian culture, Indian mythology and so on.[citation needed]
Political career[]
In 2016, when there was a political move 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 handful of people.[citation needed] As a social volunteer, Puranik tried to convince the local administration to take public opinion however it did not work.[citation needed]
Puranik announced his candidacy in the regional elections that took place in April 2019 in Japan. Puranik won with a large margin. Yogi is a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party, the largest opposition party in Japan.[citation needed]
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% of the vote.[10]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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). 2021-07-05. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
- Living people
- Japanese people of Indian descent
- Naturalized citizens of Japan
- 1977 births