Yoshihiro Murai, 65, celebrates his victory in the Miyagi gubernatorial election on Sunday night. SENDAI - Yoshihiro Murai held off four other candidates to clinch his sixth term as governor of Miyagi Prefecture in Sunday's gubernatorial election. Murai, an independent candidate who had support from prefectural assembly members of the Liberal Democratic Party, Japan Innovation Party and Komeito, highlighted his achievements as the prefecture's governor spanning five terms, or 20 years. The 65-year-old former chief of the National Governors' Association pledged to enhance productivity by promoting digital transformation using generative artificial intelligence, in anticipation of a further population decline. He successfully fended off Masamune Wada, 51, also an independent candidate, who had been closing in.