Ryūtaro Hashimoto

Hashimoto Ryūtaro

Ryūtarō Hashimoto (right) with US President Bill Clinton (1996)

Ryūtarō Hashimoto ( Japanese 橋本 龍 太郎 , Hashimoto Ryūtarō ; born July 29, 1937 in Shibuya , Tokyo , † July 1, 2006 in Tokyo) was a Japanese politician and the 53rd Prime Minister of his country.

Hashimoto's father was the former education minister and LDP MP Hashimoto Ryōgo . After studying at Keiō University , Hashimoto first worked for a textile company. In 1963 he was first elected to the Japanese lower house for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the second constituency of Okayama , the constituency of his late father .

He served two terms as Prime Minister (January 11 to November 7, 1996 and November 7, 1996 to July 30, 1998). He carried out financial reforms to consolidate the national budget, but weakened the already declining consumption of the Japanese. In particular, the increase in VAT in April 1997 brought the LDP a drop in votes in the subsequent upper house election in 1998 . Hashimoto took the result as an opportunity to resign as head of government.

He then headed the then largest faction within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the Heisei Kenkyūkai . In July 2005, he resigned after a donation scandal. In September 2005 he almost completely withdrew from politics for health reasons.

Hashimoto headed an advisory body for the United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB) from 2004 until his death .

Hashimoto's son Gaku Hashimoto is also an LDP politician of the Tsushima faction and a member of the House of Commons.

Hashimoto practiced the martial arts Kendo and reached the 6th Dan . In 1998, in recognition of the work of North American martial artists, he donated two trophies to the Shoryuhai held annually at Harvard University .

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