Tanaka Kakuei

Tanaka Kakuei (1972)

Tanaka Kakuei ( Japanese 田中 角 榮; * May 4, 1918 in Nishiyama , Niigata Prefecture ; † December 16, 1993 in Shinjuku , Tokyo Prefecture ) was a Japanese politician and from July 7, 1972 to December 9, 1974 the 64th and 65th Prime Minister of Japan . In the offices he held, he achieved good economic and foreign policy results; numerous large projects have come about through his activities. Even after he resigned from office, he was still an influential politician in the ruling LDP .

Tanaka had to resign several times because of opaque deals and allegations of bribery from his offices, for example in 1948 because of an alleged bribery affair. In the 1960s, business people close to him had bought construction property in Tokyo through bogus companies, and he himself had arranged real estate sales with the help of a geisha . The nascent black mist scandal led to a judicial charge. In 1976 he was involved in the Lockheed scandal ; he had received bribes of $ 3 million from the American aircraft manufacturer Lockheed .

Life

Career

Tanaka Kakuei was born into a rural family in Nishiyama, Niigata Prefecture. He still had 6 siblings. The family lived in poor circumstances because the father had helped found a regional dairy company that had failed. He left school at the age of 15 and started working in the construction industry in 1925. On the side he studied to secure a professional advancement. Often he only had the night hours to complete his studies. In 1937 he met the President of the Riken Institute , Vice Count Ōkochi Masatoshi , while on a business trip . He was impressed by Tanaka Kakuei's business acumen and motivation and supported him in opening an architectural office in Tokyo. In 1939 he was drafted for military service in the Imperial Japanese Army . Here he was used for military service during the Second Sino-Japanese War in Manchukuo and served in the Morioka Cavalry. In 1940 he was promoted to Lance Corporal ( Jōtōhei ). Due to pneumonia, he was sent to Tokyo to recover and left the army in October 1941.

Steps into Politics (1942 to 1955)

Tanaka as MP (1954)

Back in civilian life, Tanaka accepted a job with the Sakamoto Civil Engineering Company. At the same time he tried to reopen his architectural office. He received support from the company's boss's widow, Ms. Sakamoto. Through this relationship he met the daughter and his future wife, Hana Sakamoto. That opened the way for him to the Japanese upper class. In 1942 he took over the company and named it Tanaka Civil Engineering and Construction Industries. In 1945 he made a generous donation to a member of the Japanese Progressive Party (member of the Shūgiin House of Commons). But in order to get a seat in parliament himself in the state elections in 1946, he moved from Tokyo to Niigata - his region of origin. In these elections, however, he only won 4% of the vote. Shortly before, he had become a member of the Democratic Party (Minshutō). As a result of this election result, he changed his strategy and focused primarily on rural voters. As a result, he won 3rd place in a district in the 1947 elections. During his political work in the Reichstag, he made friends with the former Prime Minister Kijuro Shidchara and joined the Dōshi Club. When the Dōshi Club changed to the Democratic-Liberal Party in 1948 , he made this change personally. Here he befriended DLP leader Yoshida Shigeru , and he was appointed deputy minister of justice.

On December 13, 1948, Tanaka Kakuei was imprisoned in Kyushu for allegedly bribing coal prospects. All previous supporters then moved away from him and refused to finance his re-election. He was dismissed from all official party offices. After receiving bail, he was released from prison in January 1949. In the election that year he was re-elected, but reached an agreement with Cabinet Secretary Kijuro Shidchara to step down as deputy minister of justice. The Tokyo District Court found him guilty at the 1950 trial on the bribery charge. Kakuei appealed. In the meantime, in 1951, he took over the ailing Nagaoku Railway Company , whose line connected Niigata with Tokyo. Through tight management and good organization he managed to get the company going again. This earned him a great reputation among the staff of the railway company. In the elections in the same year he was re-elected for a seat in the House of Commons. Here he was financially supported by the billionaire Osano Kenji . But he received main support from a group called "Etsuzankai" (Niigata Montan Association). This pursued the goal of realizing projects and economic demands of residents of the rural Niigata region with state financing. In return, the population of the region supported the organization "Etsuzankai" in election campaigns of their local members of parliament. The completed regional projects mainly included: the Tadami River Power Plant Project, the New Shimizu Tunnel and the Jōetsu Shinkansen high-speed line. In 1955 he resigned his membership in the DLP and switched to the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan.

Political parties and member of the Japanese government (1956 to 1976)

Tanaka with Richard Nixon (1973)

By 1957 Tanaka managed to achieve a great reputation through his work and to take a leading position in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). With the election of Kishi Nobusuke as Prime Minister in 1957, Kakuei was appointed Minister of Postal and Telecommunications on July 10th. He held this office until June 1958 and enforced the granting of the first television transmission licenses in Japan. Under Ikeda Hayato , Tanaka became chairman of the LDP's Political Research Council in 1958 . From 1962 to 1965 he was finance minister in the Ikeda cabinets. During this time it achieved the highest economic growth for Japan to date. In the 1967 elections he achieved a record number of votes. During the tenure of Prime Minister Satō Eisaku , he should take the position of General Secretary of the LDP. However, since the emerging scandal over opaque real estate transactions led to a judicial indictment, the party refrained from this step. But when Tanaka achieved a record result in the 1967 elections despite the negative events, he was entrusted with the function of Secretary General.

In 1971 he received another chance from Satō Eisaku and was entrusted with the post of Minister for International Trade and Industry (MITI) in his reshaped third cabinet on July 5. During this term of office, which lasted until July 7, 1972, he campaigned intensively through diplomatic channels for the repatriation of Okinawa . In the same month he was elected the 64th Prime Minister of Japan. He held this office until December 9, 1972, making him the 65th Prime Minister. During this time, he enjoyed great popularity, which was mainly due to the results achieved. Thus he achieved the normalization of relations between China and Japan. To this end, he held talks with Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong . He launched ambitious infrastructure plans for Japan. He initiated the construction of expressways, high-speed lines in public transport and improved the economic function of secondary cities with around 300,000 inhabitants. He also pushed through the improvement of the state's social benefits in the area of ​​pensions, free medical services for the elderly, and the introduction of child benefit. In 1973, the Japanese Parliament passed the Pollution Health Damage Compensations Act to compensate victims of certain diseases, free medical assistance, and health and social benefits for their families. In the international sector, he intensified relations with numerous industrial and Asian countries. He visited the USA, France, Great Britain, the FRG, Italy, the USSR, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. He appeared on the US television program “Meet the Press” in order to have a direct dialogue with US citizens.

Loss of power and exit (1976 to 1989)

A publication of the well-known magazine Bungei Shunjū in 1974 led to great damage for him , which informed in an article that businessmen from his environment had founded bogus companies to buy land in the vicinity of important construction projects in order to be able to speculate with it. Members of his party called for a public inquiry. For himself, this led to his resignation from office on December 9, 1974 and downgrading as a simple party member. On February 6, 1976, the vice chairman of the Lockheed Corporation informed a Senate committee that Tanaka had received bribes of $ 1.8 million through the Marubeni trading company during his tenure as Prime Minister . He was arrested on July 27, 1976 for violating the Foreign Exchange Act for failing to report the payment. The investigation revealed that he accepted the bribe. On October 12, 1983, the Lockheed trial resulted in a conviction and sentencing of Tanaka to 4 years in prison and a fine of 500 million yen. He appealed against this judgment and announced that he would not leave his seat in parliament as long as he had the necessary support. This triggered a political crisis in parliament.

During the 2nd "Lockheed election" in December 1983, Tanaka received the most votes in the entire country. Purification campaigns in the LDP were carried out and a code of honor introduced. On February 27, 1985, Tanaka suffered a stroke and had to go to hospital for treatment. His absence led to further uncertainty among his supporters. Up-to-date reports on his health appeared in the press at regular intervals. He appeared before the public for the first time in January 1987, but was in very poor health. When the Tokyo High Court dismissed Tanaka's appeal on July 29, the 1983 verdict became final. He again appealed to the Supreme Court and placed bail. In November of the same year he again won the LDP leadership election. He held the office of party leader of the LDP until June 1989.

Illness and Death (1989 to 1993)

But his health got worse and worse. That is why he announced his retirement from politics in October 1989. In addition to the previous symptoms of the disease, he was also diagnosed with diabetes. Tanaka died on December 16, 1993 at 2:04 p.m. at the age of 75 in the University Hospital of Keiō University . Pneumonia was found to be the cause of death.

His daughter Makiko was also a member of the House of Commons from 1993 to 2012, with one interruption (2002-2003), and foreign minister in the first Koizumi cabinet . His in-law and adopted son Naoki was a member of the lower house from 1983 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996 and from 1998 to 2016 in the upper house . He was Minister of Defense in the reshaped Noda cabinet .

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Sterngold, James "Kakuei Tanaka, 75, Ex-Premier and Political Force in Japan, Dies". New York Times, December 17, 1993
2. ↑ ^{a b c} 池上, 彰 "今 も 熱 く 語 ら れ る 政治家「 田中 角 栄 」」 の 功 罪 ". 日本 経 済 新聞, from January 13, 2014.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Jameson, Sam "Conviction of Former Japanese Leader Tanaka Upheld, Los Angeles Times, July 29, 1987
4. ↑ Japanese Premier Pledges to End Tanaka's Influence - Associated Press, December 24, 1983
5. ↑ Jameson, Sam, "Ailing, Hurt by Scandal, Japan's Tanaka Faces a New Struggle in Party," Los Angeles Times, May 18, 1985

Web links

Commons : Kakuei Tanaka  - 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 Tanaka is the family name, Kakuei the first name.