In 1989, Iwakuni left Merrill Lynch to become mayor of
Izumo, Shimane. After running unsuccessfully for the governorship of
Tokyo in 1995, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1996. He served as the Director-General of the International Department of the
Democratic Party of Japan until 2009, when he decided to step down from politics. He has also served as vice president of the DPJ. Iwakuni last served as Senior Adviser to GR Japan, a government relations consultancy, teaching at several universities in Japan, Korea, and the U.S. == Death ==