Shiokawa Masajūrō

Shiokawa Masajūrō as Minister of Finance in April 2003

Shiokawa Masajūrō ( Japanese 塩 川 正 十郎 ; * October 13, 1921 in Fuse (today: Higashiōsaka ), Osaka Prefecture ; † September 19, 2015 in Osaka ) was a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a member of the Shūgiin , the Japanese lower house , as well as several ministers. Within the LDP he belonged to the Fukuda → Abe → Mitsuzuka → Mori faction . Since 2006 he was chairman of the Jiyū Kokumin Kaigi ("Liberal People's Congress"), a mass organization of the LDP.

Life

At his father's request, Shiokawa studied economics at Tokyo's Keiō University , where he was enthusiastic about the lectures given by the economist Takahashi Seiichirō . During his studies he was drafted as part of the student mobilization ( 学徒 出陣 , gakuto shutsujin ) in December 1943. In the military he received his university degree in March 1944.

After the end of the war, Shiokawa founded a company, in 1957 chairman of the young entrepreneurs' association ( Seinen Kaigisho ) Fuse and in 1958 managing director (jōmu riji) of the cooperative bank Kōyō shin'yō kumiai ( 弘 容 信用 組合 , today part of Nozomi Shin'yō Kumiai ). From 1964 to 1966 he was deputy mayor (joyaku) of Fuse and participated in the preparation of the amalgamation of parishes to Higashiōsaka.

In the Shūgiin election in 1967 , Shiokawa was elected to parliament for the first time in the four-mandate 4th constituency of Osaka as a candidate of the LDP with the second highest percentage of votes. From 1972 to 1973 he was parliamentary state secretary (seimujikan) at MITI , from 1976 to 1977 deputy chief cabinet secretary . In the party he soon belonged with Mori Yoshirō , Katō Mutsuki and Mitsuzuka Hiroshi to the so-called "four Tennō of the Abe faction" ( 安 倍 派 四 天王 , Abe-ha shi-tennō ), who as a potential successor to Abe Shintarō in the chairmanship of the faction were valid. He mainly dealt with tax and economic policy and became known, among other things, as chairman of the LDP's tax committee during the introduction of property tax. Shiokawa became minister for the first time in 1980 as Minister of Transport in the Suzuki cabinet (until 1981). In 1986 he replaced the resigned Minister of Education Fujio Masayuki in the 3rd Nakasone cabinet (until 1987). In the short-lived UN cabinet , he was chief cabinet secretary in 1989, and from 1991 to 1992 interior minister and chairman of the National Public Security Commission in the Miyazawa cabinet . Under Hashimoto Ryūtarō he was from 1995 to 1996 chairman of the executive council of the LDP.

In the 1996 Shūgiin election , Shiokawa ran in the new constituency of Osaka 13 and was subject to Nishino Akira (then NFP ). In 2000 he was able to win back the constituency. In the election of the LDP chairman in 2001 Shiokawa headed the election campaign of the candidates of the Mori faction, Koizumi Jun'ichirô that him after his victory as finance minister in his first cabinet appointed. Given the relative strength of young politicians, women and non-MPs in Koizumi's cabinet, the appointment of a nearly 80-year-old finance minister came as a surprise. He was nicknamed Shiojī ( 塩 爺 ) by the younger generation . He was considered an ally of Koizumi and a pillar of his reforms. In 2003 Shiokawa no longer ran for Shūgiin and withdrew from active politics.

From 1988 to 1989 and from 1989 to 2001 Shiokawa was chairman (rijichō) of Tōyō University , since 2004 he was president (sōchō) there . Since 2004 he has also been a member of the Executive Committee of the Japanese Sumo Association and Chairman of the Board of the Go Association Kansai Kiin .

Honors

On May 24, 2004 Shiokawa was made an honorary citizen of the city of Higashiōsaka.

On the Itakura campus of Tōyō University in Itakura, Gunma Prefecture, there is a bronze statue of Shiokawa, which is to honor his services to the university.

family

Shiokawa was the eldest son of the former mayor of Fuse, Shiokawa Shōzō ( 正 三 ). His younger brother Jirō was a professor at Osaka University .

Works

• あ る 凡人 の 告白 - 軌跡 と 証言 , Fujiwara Shoten, ISBN 978-4-89434-691-8 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Former Finance Minister Shiokawa dies at 93
2. ↑ Keiō University, Faculty of Economics: Graduate interview Shiokawa Masajūrō ( Memento of the original from January 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Web links

Commons : Shiokawa Masajūrō  - collection of images, videos and audio files

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