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Yoshihiko Noda was the prime minister of Japan from 2011 to 2012. He was elected to the position in a runoff vote against Banri Kaieda, who had been the finance minister under Noda's predecessor, Naoto Kan. Noda's victory was seen as a sign of the public's dissatisfaction with the Kan administration's handling of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.