is a Japanese politician who served as the governor of Yamagata Prefecture.
Saitō was born in Yamagata. After graduating from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in 1981, he worked at the Bank of Japan. He received Master of International Public Policy and Master of Arts degrees from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University in 1989 and 1990, respectively.
He was elected as governor of Yamagata in 2005, and then defeated for reelection in an upset by Mieko Yoshimura.