Miki Watanabe

Miki Watanabe
渡邉 美樹
Watanabe in 2011
Member of the House of Councillors
In office
29 July 2013  28 July 2019
ConstituencyNational PR
Personal details
Born (1959-10-05) 5 October 1959
Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Political partyLiberal Democratic
Alma materMeiji University
Websitewww.watanabemiki.net

Miki Watanabe GCM (渡邉 美樹, Watanabe Miki; born October 5, 1959) is a Japanese entrepreneur and politician. He founded the Watami chain of izakaya restaurants and headed the company until 2011, when he resigned to run in the 2011 Tokyo gubernatorial election. Watanabe's run for the governorship of Tokyo was inspired by Michael Bloomberg's mayorship of New York City. Watanabe came in third with 16.8%, losing to incumbent governor Shintaro Ishihara.