Kensaku Morita

Kensaku Morita is one of those figures whose name means completely different things depending on when you grew up in Japan. If you were watching television in the 1970s, he was the earnest, hot-blooded young man of youth dramas, and the industry agreed: he won the Elan d'or Newcomer Award in 1970. If you are younger, he is simply the governor of Chiba Prefecture, a post he held for three terms from 2009 to 2021. Born in Ota, Tokyo in 1949 and educated at Meiji Gakuin University, he also worked as a singer before moving into politics. What interests me is the durability. Plenty of entertainers run for office in Japan; very few get re-elected twice and serve twelve years running a prefecture of over six million people. Charisma gets you the first election. Something else gets you the third. He is retired from politics now, but that direct, slightly overheated speaking style never left him.

Name (English)

Kensaku Morita

Name (Japanese)

森田健作

Reading

もりた けんさく

Born

December 16, 1949 (age 76)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Sagittarius / Ox

Origin

Ota, Tokyo, Japan

Height

175 cm

Occupation

politician / singer / film actor / actor

University

Meiji Gakuin University

Awards & achievements

• 1970 Elan d'or Award for Newcomer of the Year

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensaku%20Morita
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A3%AE%E7%94%B0%E5%81%A5%E4%BD%9C
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q449915

Tags

• Tokyo
• politician
• singer
• film actor

Last updated

2026-08-07

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.