Nakasone Yasuhiro

Nakasone Yasuhiro (1982)

Yasuhiro Nakasone ( Japanese 中曽根康弘 * 27 May 1918 in Takasaki ; † 29. November 2019 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese LDP - politicians . He served as the 45th Prime Minister of Japan from November 27, 1982 to November 6, 1987 .

Life and politics

Nakasone as an officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy (around 1940)

Nakasone Yasuhiro was born in Takasaki (Gunma Prefecture) and studied at the Imperial University of Tokyo . He then became an officer in the Interior Ministry . During the Second World War he was a paymaster officer in the Japanese Navy. After the end of the war, he returned to the Interior Ministry. In the election of 1947 he was elected to the Japanese House of Representatives for the Democratic Party in the 3rd constituency of Gunma . Later he belonged to the "Democratic People's Party" ( Kokumin Minshutō ), then to the "Progressive Party" ( Kaishintō ). There he became known in 1952 because he wanted to hold Hirohito responsible for the defeat in the World War. Then he was a member of the Democratic Party of Japan and finally after the "Conservative Fusion" from 1955 the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), within which he joined the Shunjūkai like other supporters of the founding chairman Hatoyama Ichirō . After the death of faction chairman Kōno Ichirō in 1966, Nakasone left the Shunjūkai together with opponents of the re-election of Satō Eisaku as party chairman and founded the Nakasone faction , later Seisaku Kagaku Kenkyūjo , which was one of the big five factions of the LDP until the 1990s.

From 1959 to 1960 and 1972 he was head of the Department of Science and Technology, from 1967 to 1968 Minister of Transport , from 1970 to 1971 head of the Department of Defense , from 1972 to 1974 Minister for International Trade and Industry (MITI) and from 1980 to 1982 head of the Administrative Supervision Authority. In the LDP he was twice chairman of the executive council (1971–1972 and 1977–1978) and between 1974 and 1976 under Miki Takeo general secretary. On November 24, 1982 he was elected party leader .

Nakasone was Prime Minister of Japan from November 1982 to November 1987. After the general election in 1983 , the LDP had to enter into a coalition for the first time in party history - with the New Liberal Club . Nakasone's long term in office by Japanese standards was already remarkable two years after taking office. In terms of foreign policy, he worked closely with US President Ronald Reagan in spite of emerging trade conflicts . In 1985 he signed the Plaza Agreement , which was supposed to curb the growing trade surplus with the United States . In July 1986, he and his party were able to achieve a clear victory in the election to the House of Commons and restore the LDP sole government. At this point in time, Der Spiegel wrote, for example : "He gave his party a huge victory - because he is different from the other party people" .

In 1987 he came under massive public pressure because of the planned introduction of VAT , which was previously unknown in Japan. In addition, the polls on his popularity fell considerably: in May 1986 54% were still satisfied with his work, at the beginning of 1987 only 24% were satisfied. During his reign, the deficit Japanese National Railways was also privatized .

After his time as Prime Minister, he was again active as a parliamentarian. In 1990 he lost control of his faction in the wake of the recruit scandal , which was taken over by Watanabe Michio . After the electoral reform of 1994 , Nakasone only ran through the newly created proportional representation in general election. In 2003, the LDP under party chairman Koizumi Jun'ichirō introduced an age limit of 73 years for standing in the proportional representation blocs. In the 2003 election , Nakasone resigned from parliament.

In addition to his political work, he also worked as a writer for various media. In 1999, for example, Der Spiegel published an article by Nakasone Yasuhiro on Japan's economic power.

Nakasone's son Hirofumi (* 1945) has been an LDP member of the Upper House since 1986 ; he was Foreign Minister in the Aso cabinet in 2008/09 .

Political opinions

Yasuhiro Nakasone with Ronald Reagan in his country house in Hinode (1983)

Nakasone announced a “general accounting of post-war politics” ( 戦 後 政治 の 総 決算 , Sengoseiji no sōkessan ), wanted in particular to revise the pacifism obligations from the “ peace constitution ” dictated by the USA and to give Japan the possibility, like any other sovereign state, of its interests by military means to protect. This also included a “healthy national self-confidence”, which he u. a. through an official visit to the Yasukuni Shrine and through military imagery such as that of Japan as the "unsinkable aircraft carrier of the free world".

A close anti-Soviet alliance with the United States, which also wanted relief from Japan's greater contribution to collective defense, helped Nakasone loosen the shackles of the post-war constitution. Nakasone maintained a close friendship with US President Ronald Reagan beyond his tenure. The friendship, which Nakasone remembers enthusiastically in his memoirs after Reagan's death, was outlined with the term Ron Yasu diplomacy and, in this intimacy, was considered novel and unusual by contemporaries. At the same time, Nakasone demonstrated his English skills, which are above average for a Japanese prime minister.

Nakasone aroused fears inside and outside of Japan, which were also used to the detriment of Japan in the diplomatic arena. For this reason, among other things, it was not easy for Nakasone to maintain his demonstratively cordial relationship with the reformist General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Hu Yaobang . When Hu threatened to come under domestic political pressure because of his friendliness to Japan, Nakasone suspended Yasukuni visits for his sake.

As a charismatic politician, Nakasone tried to address the people directly and spoke more openly and exuberantly than most prime ministers before him. Occasionally he got caught up in sensitive statements, such as those about aircraft carriers or about the advantages of the ethnic homogeneity of Japan compared to the less homogeneous USA (whose economic performance is unfortunately depressed by certain minorities). Nonetheless, Nakasone managed to become a popular prime minister and to remain in office for an unusually long time by Japanese standards.

Cabinets

• Cabinet Nakasone I 1982–1983
• Cabinet Nakasone II 1983–1984
• Cabinet Nakasone II (1st transformation) 1984–1985
• Cabinet Nakasone II (2nd transformation) 1985–1986
• Cabinet Nakasone III 1986–1987

Honors

• Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (December 15, 1997)

literature

• Reinhard Zöllner : History of Japan: From 1800 to the present . Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2009, 417ff. (also available here on GoogleBooks).

Web links

Commons : Nakasone Yasuhiro  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 衆議院> 第 23 回 衆議院 議員 選 挙> 群 馬 県> 群 馬 3 区 . In: ザ ・ 選 挙 . JANJAN (Japan Alternative News for Justices and New Cultures) September 18, 2008, archived from the original March 9, 2007 ; Retrieved September 29, 2009 (Japanese). 
2. ↑ Japan: Violent and shrill. In: Der Spiegel 46/1984. November 12, 1984, pp. 179-184 , accessed November 29, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Japan: Ripe Rice. In: Der Spiegel 29/1986. July 14, 1986, pp. 84-85 , accessed November 29, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Japan: Disobedient Children. In: Der Spiegel 13/1987. March 23, 1987, p. 146 , accessed November 29, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Single-seat constituencies offer refuge for LDP elders who refuse to retire. In: The Japan Times . October 24, 2003, archived from the original on September 20, 2016 ; accessed on September 29, 2009 . 
6. ↑ Yasuhiro Nakasone: Mirror of the 20th Century: "Japan will be healthy". In: Der Spiegel 28/1999. July 12, 1999, p. 148 , accessed November 29, 2019 . 
7. ↑ term of office until 2016; see also list of members
8. ↑ Japan: Big House. In: Der Spiegel 5/1983. January 31, 1983, pp. 96-97 , accessed November 29, 2019 . 
9. ↑ Office of the Federal President

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Nakasone is the family name, Yasuhiro the first name.