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Noda Cabinet (Formed September 2, 2011)
EDUCATION, CULTURE, SPORTS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MINISTER
Hirofumi Hirano
Date of birth: March 19, 1949
Party: Democratic Party of Japan
Electoral district: Lower House; Osaka No. 11 (fifth term)
Hirano served as chief Cabinet secretary to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and was a senior executive in the trade union of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (now Panasonic Corp.) from 1988 through 1994.
Supported by trade unions, he was first elected to the Lower House in 1996 as an independent and joined the DPJ in 1998.
As Diet affairs chief under Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Hirano failed to help the party make progress in the divided Diet and apparently failed to build rapport with the opposition.
Speculation has it that Noda was not happy with Hirano's work as Diet affairs chief.
Hirano is known to be close to Hatoyama and DPJ heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa.
Subsequent changes
