Harumi Takahashi

is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party and currently a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature).

Early life Takahashi was born in Toyama City, Toyama, in 1954.

She graduated from Hitotsubashi University with a Bachelor of Economics degree in 1976. After university, she started her career as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. In 2001 she was appointed director of the Hokkaido Bureau of Economy Trade and Industry, a position she held until she quit in 2003 to run for Governor of Hokkaido.

Political career

Hokkaido governorship Takahashi was elected Governor of Hokkaido Prefecture in April 2003, winning with 750,000 votes in a field of nine candidates.

The year after she was first elected, Takahashi was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Cancer diagnoses usually spell the end to political careers in Japan, so they are often hidden. Instead, Takahashi publicly announced he diagnosis, and her intention to have treatment in Hokkaido rather than seeking private treatment in a Tokyo clinic. She retired at the end of her fourth term in 2019.

Achievements as governor During her terms, Takahashi focused on revitalising the Hokkaido economy through increasing local food production and incoming tourist numbers. Her local food policies encouraged more and higher value farm production, and local consumption of local products. During her tenure, the percentage of Hokkaido produced food consumed by Hokkaido residents rose from 60 percent to 80 percent, and exports to other areas of Japan and overseas also increased. She is still serving as the Hokkaido member as of July 2025.

Family Takahashi’s Grandfather Takekuni Takaysuji was a two-term Governor of Toyama Pefecture.

Takahashi’s younger brother, Hachiro Nitta is the current two-term Governor of Toyama Prefecture.