Yoshihiko Noda (Japanese: 野田 佳彦, Hepburn: Noda Yoshihiko; born 20 May 1957) is a Japanese politician. He is the current leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), and has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2000. He served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 2011 to 2012.
Noda entered politics in 1993 as a member of the now-defunct Japan New Party. In 1996, he joined the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). After the DPJ won control of the Diet in 2009 general election, Noda was named a senior vice minister of finance in the cabinet of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, and in 2010, was named minister of finance in the cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Following Kan's resignation as prime minister, Noda won the ensuing leadership election and was appointed prime minister on 2 September 2011.