京都精華大学
is a Japanese politician and member of the National Diet of Japan, serving as member of the House of Councillors from Shiga Prefecture since 2019. She was the prefectural governor of Shiga for two terms from 2006 to 2014. She is from Honjō, Saitama and her father was a member of the city council. She went to Kyoto University and studied environmental sociology. She moved to Ōtsu, Shiga in 1979. She graduated from the Graduate School of Agriculture of Kyoto University in 1981. She also studied in the United States at the University of Wisconsin as a graduate student in 1973. She became a professor at Kyoto Seika University in 2000.