Jon Heese (ヘイズ・ジョン, February 17, 1963) is a Japanese politician from Canada. He is a member of the Ibaraki Prefectural Assembly (1 term). He is a former member of the Tsukuba City Council (4 terms).[1] He came to Japan from Canada in 1991, and after working as an English conversation teacher, he was first elected to the Tsukuba City Council in October 2008.
He was born in Saskatchewan, Canada, graduated from the University of Regina in 1991,[2] and became a naturalized citizen of Japan in 2007.[3] He is the third naturalized citizen from Europe or the United States to become a Japanese legislator, following Marutei Tsurunen, a former member of the House of Councillors from Yugawara Town, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Anthony Bianchi, a former member of the Inuyama City Council, Aichi Prefecture.
He is the president of Imagineric and a member of the Tsukuba Representative Committee of the Ibaraki Foreigners' Roundtable.
In December 2014, he ran as an independent candidate for the Ibaraki Prefectural Assembly election from the Tsukuba City electoral district, but was unsuccessful. In 2016, he was elected to the Tsukuba City Assembly for a third term.
In December 2022, he ran for election as a member of the Ibaraki Prefectural Assembly from Tsukuba City and won.