Yasuhiro Nakasone

(b. Gumma, 27 May 1917) Japanese; Prime Minister 1982 – 7 Nakasone was educated at Tokyo Imperial University and was first elected to the Diet in April 1947. He rose quickly in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), acquiring the reputation of being a strong Japanese nationalist and of being hawkish in defence matters. In 1959 he became director of the Science and Technology Agency (a post just below Cabinet level) and a protégé of Tanaka Kakuei. Under Satõ Eisaku he was Minister for Transport (1967 – 8), Director-General of the Defence Agency, the equivalent of Defence Secretary (1970 – 1), before becoming Minister of the powerful Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) following Tanaka's appointment as Prime Minister (1972 – 4). He was secretary-general of the LDP from 1974 to 1976. In 1982, with support from the Tanaka faction, he became Prime Minister. His period in office was marked by a number or privatizations of state-controlled industries and attempts to reduce the role of the government and bureaucracy in the economy. He developed a close relationship with US President Ronald Reagan as both shared a strong dislike of the Soviet Union, and the phrase "Ron-Yasu Diplomacy" was coined to describe this. He pushed Japanese defence spending over the psychologically significant 1 per cent of GNP barrier for the first time.

Nakasone was forced to resign as Prime Minister in 1987 when he was implicated in the Recruit scandal, and was replaced by another Tanaka faction member, Takeshita Noboru. He rejoined the LDP in 1991 and remains active in the Diet.

Nakasone Yasuhiro (born 1918) was a Japanese politician who helped rebuild pride in the nation and in Japan's world role. He was active in the Liberal Democratic Party for over 30 years before becoming prime minister in 1982. He served an unprecedented five years, retiring in 1987.

During the American occupation of Japan after World War II, the young politician Nakasone Yasuhiro warned that American idealism had a dark side. Yes, the Americans wanted to create a new Japan, a democratic Japan. But in return, they expected subservience, and subservience was not an attitude from which the Japanese could draw the strength necessary to rebuilding their nation. Many critics saw in Nakasone's warning an attempt to resurrect a power-oriented world, an attempt to reassert the pre-war values that had plunged Japan into war and brought defeat, values that had been discredited. In short, Nakasone made enemies, more enemies than friends. Yet it was Nakasone who became prime minister during the delicate period when Japan was re-asserting its ability to self-govern and the United States was re-thinking its involvement with Japan a reordering that continued into the late 1980s.

Early Entrance into Politics

Nakasone Yasuhiro was born on May 27, 1918, the second son of a lumber merchant in Takasaki, a city on the northwestern approach to Tokyo. He attended the prestigious Shizuoka High School, then went on to Tokyo University, where he studied political science in the law division. In 1941 he passed the higher civil service examination and became an official in the Ministry of the Interior. Later in the same year he joined the navy, from which he was discharged in 1945 as a lieutenant commander. In February 1945 he married Tsutako, the third daughter of Kobayashi Giichiro; in November, they had their first son, Hirofumi, who became a councillor in the Diet, the national assembly. In 1947 they had their first daughter, Michiko, and in 1949 they had their second daughter, Mieko.

After he was demobilized, Nakasone returned to the Interior Ministry. Under Japan's first constitution, the emperor assigned the right to rule to his appointed officials. In December 1946 Japan's new constitution proclaimed "that sovereign power resides with the people." In Nakasone's words, "This made me realize that I was wasting my time in Tokyo…. I resigned from the ministry and returned home…. I decided to run for a seat in the House of Representatives."

That opportunity came in April 1947. The election was hard-fought. "The communists came with their red flags held high. I went bearing the Japanese flag, even though the Occupation authorities had forbidden its display. In their eyes, that made me a rightist." He won. He was 28 years of age.

He joined the Japan Democratic Party, a conservative opposition party. In 1955 that party allied with the Japan Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democratic Party, which became the majority party with the power to choose the prime minister, who then could choose a cabinet. The LDP held this power to form a government through the mid-1980s. Political battles between the parties became less important than the political battles between the factions within the LDP, as the faction leaders contested the right to be prime minister. Nakasone joined the faction of Kono Ichiro, who died in 1965 after losing a battle with Sato Eisaku for the prime minister's seat. Several Kono lieutenants stepped forward to claim the Kono mantle: Nakasone was one of them. Three years were to pass before Nakasone prevailed and the Kono faction became the Nakasone faction.

In theory, Nakasone was now in position to vie for the prime minister's chair. But Nakasone had lost faction members during the succession struggle. He had no money to support the faction. Finally, he had not demonstrated the ability to rule. To correct these deficiencies, he allied himself with Sato Eisaku, still prime minister. To the charge that he was a political weathercock, he answered, "A weathercock stays set but moves his body. That's the essence of politics." Under Sato's aegis, Nakasone served as transportation minister, director general of the defense agency, chairman of the LDP executive council, and minister of international trade and industry (MITI). When Sato stepped down, Nakasone allied with Tanaka Eisaku, who then became the prime minister. This alliance brought him the MITI post again. Under the next prime minister, Nakasone became the secretary general of the LDP, a post which all prime ministers had held before they became prime ministers. Finally, in 1982, Nakasone became the prime minister.

A Prime Minister Becomes a World Leader

Japan had 44 prime ministers from the time when the post was created in the late 19th century until the mid-1980s. The average length of time in office has been a little over two years. Nakasone is one of only several prime ministers who have served more than five years. That fact alone distinguishes him.

What accounts for Nakasone's extended tenure? There are several reasons for his success, including favorable economic conditions during his tenure and his ability to pass his domestic program through the Diet. But, unlike his predecessors who had often assumed office with only 30 percent approval from the public because the prime minister is chosen by his peers rather than by popular vote Nakasone cultivated his popularity with the people. In the early 1960s Nakasone argued that the prime minister should be popularly elected. That reform did not get enacted, but Nakasone never considered a political move without preparing his public. Other politicians criticized Nakasone for playing to the grandstand, but their voices were stilled by the immense popularity of Nakasone's party and cabinet popularity so great that in the 1986 elections the party won more seats in the Diet than it had ever won before.

Nakasone's greatest contribution was in foreign affairs. The quickest to industrialize in spite of the fact that it began its technological development later than most industrialized nations, Japan had great troubles accommodating itself to the international order. Before World War II, it was perceived as being too aggressive; after World War II, this opinion was reversed and Japan was seen as being too passive. Other nations have looked at Japan's business activity and concluded that Japan is an economic animal, though these same nations have said they hope to emulate Japan in building a prosperous and stable nation.

Nakasone is seen as having changed these circumstances. He brought Japan into the colloquy of nations and was responsible for propagating a better understanding of Japan among the nations. Most of all, Nakasone instilled a national pride in the Japanese people in their new-found world identity.

In 1947, to help win his first election, Nakasone created the Purple Cloud Society (Seiun Juku) among the young men in his Gumma electoral district. In its charter are listed these three goals: to restore pride and independence to Japan; to foster Asian democracy; to change for the better the world and Japan's position in it. Those goals still form a sturdy tripod on which to base an understanding of Nakasone.

By the mid-1980s Japan had developed a strong balance of trade in its favor (money from its exports far exceeded the money spent on imports). This strained relations with the United States, which was suffering an unfavorable trade balance, in large measure because Japanese goods found a ready market in the United States while far fewer U.S. goods were sold in Japan. Nakasone, who had become a personal friend of President Ronald Reagan, worked hard to avoid a serious trade war between the two nations. (The media dubbed the two leader's friendly meetings "The Ron and Yasu show.")

Sales Tax Trouble

While Nakasone was known as a charismatic leader, even he couldn't avoid political trouble. In what he termed his "last and greatest reform," Nakasone called for a comprehensive reform of Japan's tax system in 1986. Time magazine called this "a supreme test of Nakasone's political will, skill and power," as Nakasone introduced a plan to drastically cut income tax. In addition, he proposed to add a "value added" or sales tax. This would pay for the income tax cut, and Nakasone hoped, it would also help correct the trade imbalance with the United States. (The sales tax would not apply to imported goods, making them more attractive.) It was this last provision that proved unpopular, especially since Nakasone had made a campaign promise not to introduce "a large scale levy (tax)."

Party rules required that Nakasone step down from office in 1987. He became the only postwar prime minister to name his successor, Takeshita Noboru. Nakasone took his place in the Diet, but his political career was far from over.

Scandal

For the next several years, scandal rocked the Japanese political system, and Nakasone was caught up in the storm. In 1989 Nakasone fell under suspicion in what became known as the Recruit Cosmos Share Scandal. Prime Minister Takeshita Noboru resigned as a result. The scandal was very complicated, but basically amounted to accusations that the Liberal Democratic Party accepted shares and other kinds of bribes in exchange for political favors.

At first, Nakasone refused to testify under oath. He also refused to leave his position in the Diet. He later relented, and agreed to testify. He also agreed to vacate his leadership position of his faction, but not to leave the Diet. Nakasone was never charged officially with any crime, but he left the party and active politics as a result of the scandal.

Return to Plitics

In the early 1990s, Nakasone quietly returned to politics. He became head of the Takeshita faction, replacing Shin Kanemaru, who left in disgrace. Nakasone's political influence again grew stronger when he was named as one of the senior advisers to the LDP in 1991. Despite his alleged connection in the Recruit scandal, Nakasone will be remembered as a good leader for Japan. In 1987 Time Magazine said "Nakasone put Japan on the world map and the rest of the world on Japan's map."

Further Reading

There is not as yet a biography of Nakasone. An insightful description of Japanese politics can be found in Gerald L. Curtis', The Japanese Way of Politics (scheduled for 1998 publication). A broad description of the Japanese and their nation can be found in Edwin O. Reischauer's, The Japanese (1977). Nakasone is also profiled and interviewed in numerous periodicals.

In this Japanese name, the family name is Nakasone.

Yasuhiro Nakasone 中曾根 康弘
Prime Minister of Japan
In office 27 November 1982 – 6 November 1987
Monarch	Shōwa
Preceded by	Zenko Suzuki
Succeeded by	Noboru Takeshita
Born	27 May 1918 (1918-05-27) (age 91) Takasaki, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Children	Hirofumi Nakasone
Alma mater	Tokyo Imperial University
Religion	Shuuyoudan Houseikai[1]

Yasuhiro Nakasone (中曽根 康弘 Nakasone Yasuhiro, born May 27, 1918) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from November 27, 1982 to November 6, 1987. A contemporary of Ronald Reagan, Helmut Kohl, François Mitterrand, Margaret Thatcher, and Mikhail Gorbachev, he is best known for pushing through the privatization of state-owned companies, and for helping to revitalize Japanese nationalism during and after his term as prime minister. Nakasone is currently the oldest living Japanese prime minister.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Prime Minister 3 Later political life 4 References 5 External links

Early life

He was born in Takasaki, Gunma and attended Tokyo Imperial University. During World War II, he was a commissioned officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy.

In 1947, he entered the Diet of Japan as a member of the House of Representatives for the Democratic Party^[2]. He gained brief notoriety in 1952 for blaming Emperor Hirohito for Japan's defeat in the war. Nakasone rose through the LDP's ranks, becoming Minister of Science in 1959 under the government of Nobusuke Kishi, then Minister of Transport in 1967, head of the Agency of Defense in 1970, Minister of International Trade and Industry in 1972 and Minister of Administration in 1981.

Prime Minister

President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone having lunch at Nakasone's country residence in Japan in 1983.

In 1982, Nakasone became Prime Minister. Along with Minister of Foreign Affairs Shintaro Abe, Nakasone improved Japan's relations with the USSR and the People's Republic of China. Nakasone was best known for his close relationship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, popularly called the "Ron-Yasu" friendship. In domestic policy, Nakasone's most notable policy was his privatization initiative, which led to the breakup of Japan National Railways into the modern Japan Railways Group.

Nakasone also became known for having a nationalist attitude. He twice visited Yasukuni Shrine, after the controversial decision to enshrine fourteen Class A war criminals was made in 1978. During his last term in office, he also gained notoriety among the various non-Japanese ethnic groups in Japan (particularly the sizeable Korean minority) for proclaiming that Japan's success was because it did not have ethnic minorities, like the US. He then clarified his comments, stating that he meant to congratulate the US on its economic success despite the presence of "problematic" minorities.^[3] Due to this issue, Masayuki Fujio, the Minister of Education, had to resign in 1986.

Later political life

Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone (left) at the funeral of Ronald Reagan with former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, with former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Nakasone was replaced by Noboru Takeshita in 1987, and was implicated, along with other LDP lawmakers, in the Recruit scandal that broke the following year.

Although he remained in the Diet for another decade and a half, his influence gradually waned. In 2003, Nakasone was not given a place on the LDP's electoral list when the party introduced an age limit of 73 years for candidates in the proportional representation blocks^[4], thereby ending his career as a member of the Diet. The move was widely seen as a blunt and effective attack by Junichiro Koizumi on the old guard LDP leadership.

Nakasone's son, Hirofumi Nakasone, is also a member of the Diet; he served in the cabinet of Keizo Obuchi as Minister of Education and was Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Taro Aso.

Political offices
Preceded by Zenko Suzuki	Prime Minister of Japan 1982–1987	Succeeded by Noboru Takeshita
Preceded by Sōsuke Uno	Minister of State, Head of the Administrative Management Agency 1980–1982	Succeeded by Kunikichi Saitō
Preceded by Kakuei Tanaka	Minister of International Trade and Industry 1972–1974	Succeeded by Toshio Kōmoto
Preceded by Tatsunosuke Takasaki Shirō Kiuchi	Minister of State, Head of the Science and Technology Agency 1959–1960 1972	Succeeded by Masuo Araki Kazuo Maeda
Preceded by Kiichi Arita	Minister of State, Head of the Japan Defense Agency 1970–1971	Succeeded by Keiichi Masuhara
Preceded by Takeo Ōhashi	Minister of Transport 1967–1968	Succeeded by Ken Harada
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Helmut Kohl	Chair of the G7 1986	Succeeded by Bettino Craxi
Party political offices
Preceded by Zenkō Suzuki	President of the Liberal Democratic Party 1982–1987	Succeeded by Noboru Takeshita
Preceded by Susumu Nikaidō	Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party 1974–1976	Succeeded by Tsuneo Uchida
Preceded by Zenkō Suzuki Masumi Esaki	General Council Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party 1971–1972 1977–1978	Succeeded by Zenkō Suzuki Kuraishi Tadao
Preceded by Himself (Co-chairman) Umekichi Nakamura (Co-chairman) Yoshio Sakurauchi (Co-chairman)	Chairman of Shinsei Dōshikai (Nakasone faction) 1968–1978	Change of official faction name
New title Change of official faction name	Chairman of Seisaku Kagaku Kenkyūjo (Nakasone faction) 1978–1990	Succeeded by Michio Watanabe
House of Representatives of Japan
New title New district	Representative for Gunma's 3rd District (multi-member) 1947 – 1996 Served alongside: Mitsuhei Obuchi, Takeo Fukuda, Tsuruo Yamaguchi, Keizō Obuchi, Yasuo Fukuda, numerous others	District eliminated
New title Introduction of proportional voting	Representative for the Kita-Kantō PR block 1996 – 2003	Succeeded by -

References

1. ^ 上之郷, 利昭 (1994). 教祖誕生. 講談社文庫. 
2. ^ The Senkyo, 23rd election of the House of Representatives, Gunma's 3rd district
3. ^ Nakasone's World-Class Blunder
4. ^ The Japan Times, October 24, 2003: Single-seat constituencies offer refuge for LDP elders who refuse to retire

• Hood, Christopher P. (2001). Japanese Education Reform: Nakasone's Legacy. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-23283-X. 

External links

• Nakasone's World-Class Blunder (TIME), Japan's leader stirs a tempest by linking race to intellect

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